Democratization other stakeholders to become acquainted with law-making techniques and procedures used in other OSCE participating States. This workshop was the first in a series of three planned for 2008 and 2009. How these issues relate to democratic lawmaking was also a central theme of the presentations by experts at the workshop. In January, ODIHR submitted recommendations to authorities in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on its legislative system that were developed from a comprehensive assessment of the country’s legal system that was carried out in 2007. After parliamentary elections in June, the Ministry of Justice and the government’s General Secretariat moved forward with a strategy for implementing these recommendations. The strategy, which was agreed upon at an ODIHR roundtable in September, foresaw the formation of a group of local experts on lawmaking issues. Set up in October, this group agreed that the ODIHR recommendations would be discussed at a series of five workshops. The discussions are expected to result in a reform package to be submitted to the government and the parliament. A similar approach was followed in Georgia, where the ODIHR assessment of the legislative system (initially completed in 2005, then updated in 2007) was to serve as a basis for a locally owned process of reflection on the reforms needed to implement the ODIHR recommendations. Due to developments in Georgia, however, the plan could not be implemented and activities have been postponed. In Moldova, the initial assessment phase was divided into two parts: the first, a review of the legal framework governing the lawmaking process, the findings of which were discussed at a roundtable in Chisinau in October; while the second, a full-scale assessment, is expected to be carried out next year. All of these activities have been conducted jointly with the OSCE field operations in the respective participating States. The methodology for preparing and conducting assessments of legislative systems has been consolidated over time, and ODIHR’s recognized expertise in this field has resulted in an increase in requests for assistance. The recommendations emerging from the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on “Democratic Lawmaking” have demonstrated the importance of this new focus. A group of leading experts on legislative systems, who met the day before the event, confirmed that, while the needs are critical, particularly in countries with an EU accession agenda, demand is still relatively low, due to a consistent underestimation of the problems faced. This meeting, which also included representatives of OSCE field operations, proved useful in consolidating ODIHR’s network of expertise in this field and strengthening its capacity to better tailor its assistance to needs. Because a key component of this assistance is the exchange of good practices, ODIHR’s legislative database (www.legislationline.org) will be expanded to include a new section on these issues. II. Democratic governance and participation In 2008, ODIHR assistance was directed to political parties, legislatures and legislators, reflecting the recommendations of recent human dimension events, beginning with the Human Dimension Seminar on “Democratic Institutions and Democratic Governance” (2004), as well as on detailed analysis of work by other actors. The Human Dimension Seminar “Effective Participation and Representation in Democratic Societies” (2007) highlighted the challenges facing political parties throughout the OSCE region, as well as the fact that they can learn much from each other. Supporting political parties Responsive political parties are necessary if citizens are to receive effective representation. Political parties are indispensable instruments in democratic societies for aggregating and representing interests and priorities in a common policy platform. Since 2006, ODIHR has been actively engaged in Georgia, developing the capacity for critical self-assessment within political parties to allow Annual Report 2008 29