International Republican Institute

The International Republican Insitute (IRI) works closely with the the National Endowment for Democracy and United States foreign policy instruments, including the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development, to support economic and political development programs around the world. The organization is almost exclusively funded by the U.S. government and related agencies. IRI, despite what its name suggests, is loosely affiliated with the Republican Party.

IRI's stated mission is to "support the growth of political and economic freedom, good governance and human rights around the world by educating people, parties and governments on the values and practices of democracy." However, it has also been linked to efforts to foment a violent military coup in Haiti. Max Blumenthal reports that Stanley Lucas is the program officer for the IRI's Haiti program.

While based in Washington, D.C., IRI maintains offices around the world, including in Africa (Abuja, Luanda and Nairobi), Asia (Dili, Jakarta, Phnom Phen and Ulaanbaatar), Latin America (Caracas, Guatamela City and Lima), Central and Eastern Europe (Belgrade, Bratislava, Bucharest, Istanbul, Skopje, Sofia, Tirana and Zagreb) and the former Soviet Union (Almaty, Baku, Belarus, Kyiv, Moscow, Tashkent and Tblisi).

"In 1994, the International Republican Institute (IRI) began a relationship with the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), a civil society organization, dedicated to implementing democracy-strengthening initiatives."

Activities

IRI is involved in "democracy manipulation" much like what most of the NED constellation of organizations do. Its activities can be broken down as follows:

1. Fostering favored groups: IRI fosters groups it prefers promoting their organizations in various ways. The favored groups are political groupings, civic groups and journalists.
2. Surveys. It frequently conducts surveys to determine political opinon around the world. Some of the surveys are conducted in association with political parties, but some are conducted in secret.

Activities

Morocco

It is very likely that the Muslim political parties will make major inroads in the Sept. 2007 elections. There has been much jockeying, speculation, and manipulation. The IRI has been part of the scene, and Wendy Kristianasen summarizes its activities:

Nervous western governments regard Morocco as a test case for Arab democracy. The Hamas victory in the Palestinian territories in January 2006 and the Muslim Brotherhood’s success in Egypt in the 2005 parliamentary elections forced the US to moderate its rhetoric on the democratisation of the Arab world. Washington could scarcely have been reassured by a survey commissioned from a centre close to the Republican Party, the International Republican Institute (IRI). Based on secret polls since late 2005, the survey showed the PJD with 47% support, ahead of the USFP.
This was leaked in the Le Journal hebdomadaire on 18-24 March 2006. Banner headlines announced the “Islamist threat” and many held the Americans responsible. By chance the PJD’s secretary-general, Saadeddine el-Othmani, was in Washington at the time. It was then discovered that the IRI had funded a visit to the PJD from Turkey’s Islamists from the AKP (Justice and Development Party). Many differing conspiracy theories ensued, but all Moroccans agreed the US was guilty of interference in internal affairs.
On 3 April 2006 the ministry of the interior responded to the IRI furore by leaking its own polls indicating a continuation of the status quo: 62% of voters would elect four main parties (USFP, Istiqlal, People’s Movement and the PJD) and 38% would vote for other parties. The PJD made known its own more modest forecast of 26-30% of the vote, and again reassured everybody that the party did not seek a result Morocco could not handle.

Venezuela and Haiti

In 2004, it was reported that the IRI was specifically tied to the 2002 armed coup that briefly removed populist President Hugo Chavez from power in Venezuela. According to Mother Jones, IRI was also involved in sponsoring parties that led to the violent uprising against democratically elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, which itself culminated in Aristide's exile and the dissolution of his government on February 29 2004

Prinicipals and Personnel

IRI Board of Directors and Personnel includes major Republican foreign policy voices, and other prominent Republicans.

References, resources and Contact

Contact Information

International Republican Institute

1225 Eye Street, NW, Suite 700

Washington DC 20005

Telephone: (202) 408-9450

Fax: (202) 408-9462

Web site: www.iri.org

Resources

• International Republican Institute profile, NNDB.
• Right Web Profile
• Philip Agee, "Former CIA Agent Tells How U.S. Infiltrates Civil Society to Overthrow Governments," Information Clearing House, 3 August 2003.
• "Tentacles of the International Republican Institute," People's Weekly World, 13 March 2004.
• Andrew Wells-Dang, "When Democracy Promotion Turns Partisan: IRI in Cambodia," Right Web, April 5, 2004, viewed 15 April 2004.
• Max Blumenthal, contibutor to Salon.com, authored an investigative piece that examines the role of the United States in destabilizing the democratically-elected government of Haiti's Jean Bertrand-Aristide through the International Republican Institute, a federally-funded, nonprofit political group backed by powerful Republicans close to the Bush administration. [1]
• Lisa Ashkenaz Croke and Brian Dominick, Controversial U.S. Groups Operate Behind Scenes on Iraq Vote," The New Standard, 13 December 2004.
• Ian Traynor,US Campaign Behind the Turmoil in Kiev, The Guardian, 26 November 2004.