National Endowment for Democracy and its grantees and their relationship with the US Government and the American Political Parties

According to testimony given to the hearings on the ‘Oversight of the National Endowment for Democracy’ before the Subcommittee on International Operations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, second session, May 14 and 20, June 11, 1986, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)¹: 

•          receives and disperses US Government funds (Page 41);
•         was intended to function as a funding conduit to its four core grantees (Page 7);
•          is accountable to Congress to insure that the grant funds were expended for the purpose intended (Page 40);
•          is legislatively mandated to consult with the State Department (Page 60). 

The NED’s four core grantees represent labor, business and the two political parties (Page 14), namely the Republicans and the Democrats (Page 35).

The four major institutes affiliated with the NED are:

• The Free Trade Union Institute;
• The Center for International Private Enterprise;
• The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs;
• The National Republican Institute for International Affairs (Page 76). 

Relationship with the US State Department

According to the US Department of State there is a legislatively mandated consultation procedure between the NED and the State Department (Page 60). This is a formal consultation process (Page 62). The specific steps are:

A. The NED forwards to the Department of State (specifically to the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs) a copy of each program proposal as it would be presented to the NED’s board;

B. The program proposal would then be forwarded to the appropriate desk in the Department of State for review and comment, including consulting with embassies if necessary;

C. Any comments on the proposal would then be passed back to the NED (Page 62).

There is also a system of informal consultations. In the field, US Embassies are always available to the NED and its institutes for advice and guidance and frequently when Ambassadors return to Washington for consultations they call on the NED to discuss programs and offer ideas (Page 63).

Here’s the report cover:

First Published: 24 July 2016

Reference

¹Oversight of the National Endowment for Democracy : hearings before the Subcommittee on International Operations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, second session, May 14 and 20, June 11, 1986. Link to report: NED 1986 Congressional Oversight Hearings Report