Interpretation – democracy assistance should be based on a minimalist concept of democracy.

Democracy is a regime that fills government offices based on contested elections.

Przeworski  96 - (Adam Przeworski is professor of political science at New York University.  Michael Alvarez is assistant professor of political science at De Paul University.  José Antonio Cheibub is assistant professor of politics at the University of Pennsylvania.  Fernando Limongi is assistant professor of political science at the University of São Paulo, What Makes Democracies Endure?, Journal of Democracy 7.1 (1996) 39-55)

We define democracy as a... ...this is obviously a minimalist definition.

Violation - The aff engages in dialogues with opposition leaders

Prefer it

A. Limits – minimalist definitions prevent the topic from becoming huge. That’s key to our ability to do in-depth research on most affs.

Goldstone 8 – Prof Public Policy @ George Mason Jack, Improving Democracy Assistance:  Building  Knowledge Through Evaluations and Research  Committee on Evaluation of USAID Democracy  Assistance Programs, National Research Council of the National Academies, http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/files/dFNH0I/Improving_Democracy_Assistance__Final_report.pdf

Although there is general consensus about the... ...should be fully  developed.

B. Literature – most democracy assistance is based on a minimalist definition.

Rudebeck  2 – Lars Rudebeck, Dept of Political Science, Uppsala University, On the Twofold Meaning of Democracy and Democratisation, Democracy, Power and Partnership – Implications for Development Cooperation  Proceeding from a conference arranged by  the Collegium for Development Studies at Uppsala University  in cooperation with Sida  May 6, 2002, www.kus.uu.se/pdf/publications/outlook_development/outlook17.pdf

It is a serious problem, therefore... ...equalisation in the aid-receiving countries.

Topicality is a voter – it tells people what to prepare for.