The 2024 Embedded Scholars conducted research this spring on a range of pressing challenges and opportunities for democracies today. Students shared their research this week, giving presentations on the role of public participation, civic and constitutional culture, and democratic resilience in preserving and advancing democracy.
Continue reading Fellows Share Research on Participation, Culture, and Democratic ResilienceTag Archives: Constitutional analysis
Video Diary: Day in the Life of Fellows in Panama
UT fellow Matthew Martin and International IDEA provide a video tour of a day in the life of fellows working for International IDEA in Panama. Matt discusses his work analyzing constitutional performance and takes us on their visit to the National Archives of Panama, exploring the political and cultural history of Panama.
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Chilean Constitution Drafting
By Guillermo Pérez
My experience during the internship was wonderful for multiple reasons. First and foremost, working with a prestigious organization like International IDEA is a privilege. The research projects, the opportunities for influence, and the constant dialogue with political authorities in the country are extremely important for strengthening democracy. Earlier in the summer, we had the opportunity to participate in a seminar organized by IDEA on the Chilean constitutional process. In that seminar, international experts such as Adam Chilton, Lisa Hilbink, and David Landau shared their reflections on the Chilean constitutional proposal. There were also dialogues between the constitutional experts who proposed the draft constitution and the members of the Constitutional Council that reviewed and approved the final version.
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IDEA & Electoral Tribunal Share UT Student Work in Latin America
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Institute of Democratic Studies (INED) at the Electoral Tribunal of Panama released a video sharing the work of University of Texas students who interned with them in Summer 2023 as part of the UT Government Department’s Embedded Scholars program.
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Supporting the Chilean Constituent Process
By Matt Martin
After three weeks under the Panamanian sun, I headed to Santiago for a taste of the Chilean winter. There I spent the last three weeks of the Democratic Institutional Development internship working closely alongside the team at the International IDEA office in Chile. The second half of my experience was a perfect complement to the first, providing not only greater exposure to IDEA’s operations but also a chance to understand more deeply Chile’s constitutional moment, a topic of great personal interest.
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Learning across Cultures
By Alexys Aquino
My last week in Panama went by so fast. All of a sudden, I was on a plane back to Texas and, just like that, my six weeks there were over. Now that I’m back in the U.S., I feel so aware of the things I learned in Panama and the aspects of life there that I really valued. Some of them I can implement in my life, and others I’ll just have to look upon fondly.
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A Unique Adventure
By Guillermo Perez
Throughout my life, I have had the privilege of living in many places, including Spain, Mexico, and the United States. I have remembered and missed my country of birth, Chile, in each of these places. However, this was the first time in recent years when I had the chance to mix the world of Chile with that of the country where I live. This internship allowed me to combine my North American world with my Chilean world, and it was a truly extraordinary experience.
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Chile Surrealista
By Alejandra Jimenez
Surrealism refers to a form of visual art that produces incongruous imagery by means of irrational juxtapositions. Some argue that surrealism revolutionizes the human experience, as magic and beauty can be found in the unexpected and uncanny. In a similar way, my time in Chile has been just that—pleasantly unexpected.
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Constitutional Performance in Panama
By Matt Martin
The time I’ve spent in Panama has been nothing short of a privilege. To work alongside International IDEA and have a peek into the world of democratic and electoral assistance was invaluable, both on a professional and personal level. Most of my time was spent at the Tribunal Electoral (“Electoral Tribunal,” or TE), where International IDEA-Panama is located. The TE houses not only the country’s civil registry, national ID directorate, and specialized electoral body but also the Instituto de Estudios Democráticos (“Institute of Democratic Studies,” or INED). I worked alongside the director of INED, Salvador Sánchez, and several other researchers on his talented team. Their kindheartedness made me feel more than welcome as an intern.
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Fellows Team Grows in Chile!
Four graduate and undergraduate UT students are conducting their Summer 2023 work in Chile at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).
Alejandra Jimenez, Guillermo Pérez, and Tien Vo started their work at the IDEA Chile Office on June 1, and they’re joined this week by Matt Martin, fresh in from IDEA’s Panama Office. The fellows are supporting a range of legal and constitutional reform projects in Chile, with Chile’s current constitutional reform process underway.
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Fellows Arrive in Panama!
Six graduate and undergraduate UT students started their Summer 2023 work today in Panama at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).
Francisco Alvarado-Quiroz, Alexys Aquino, Matt Martin, and Kaitlin Passafiume are working at the IDEA Panama Office, supporting a range of democracy assistance projects including evaluations of the constitution’s performance, women’s participation in elections, and the first-ever Panamanian youth voting campaign.
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2023 Fellows Develop New Public Consultation
The 2023 Embedded Scholars have been preparing for their summer work abroad through a new government course created for the program — Research in Democratic and Constitutional Development — taught by Ashley Moran. The course delves into issues in democratization, constitutional design, and democracy assistance, engaging students in research in these areas. This semester, the students worked with Professor Moran and the Comparative Constitutions Project to design a new deliberative consultation framework to research public views on constitutional issues.
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