MCC and the Long Term Goal of Deepening Democracy

November 2007

Executive Summary
The mission of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US foreign assistance program established in 2004, is to reduce poverty through economic growth. Although promoting democracy is not explicitly part of this mission, we recognize the link between democracy and economic growth, and several of MCC’s core founding
principles implicitly value democratic institutions. These principles echo an evolving set of lessons from the development community, including democracy assistance practitioners, as well as an expanding economic literature on the role of domestic institutions. Based on this, MCC’s approach to long-term democratic deepening has two parts.....More