Embassy Newscentre

Embassy News 2008

Dr. Sheldon Gellar, the Public Affairs Officer Sharon White and the Panelists during a conference (Photo: Yacouba Soro/US Embassy)

American Political Scientist and Research Associate Speaks on U.S. Election

Dr. Sheldon Gellar, an American political scientist and research associate, who visited Côte d’Ivoire from June 7 to June 14, 2008 spoke on the U.S. elections. Other issues including the importance of free and fair elections in a democratic society, grassroots democracy in the U.S., and the involvement of youth and women’s organizations in the electoral process, were also addressed during conferences organized by the U. S. Embassy in Abidjan, Yamoussoukro and Bouake. More than one thousand people took part in the programs.

Government officials, politicians, members of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), representatives of civic groups, women’s organizations, businessmen, youth, and students attended the programs, whose aim was to develop a better understanding of the American electoral system. Dr. Gellar also used the opportunity to learn more about Côte d’Ivoire, especially the peace process underway in this country. In November of this year, the people of the United States will elect their president. During the same month, Ivoirians will choose their president in an election that is widely seen as the best way forward to resolve their country’s six-year old period of crisis.

In Abidjan, Dr. Gellar had three conferences with different audiences including politicians and NGO leaders, members of the American-Ivorian Chamber of Commerce and students and lecturers at the University of Cocody. In Yamoussoukro, he talked to journalists, politicians and NGO activists. Discussion focused on issues pertaining to transparent, free, fair and peaceful elections. Dr. Gellar introduced the concept of “good winners” and “good loosers” to help explain the long tradition of peaceful transition after elections in the United States. 

During the four sessions held in Bouake, Dr. Gellar encouraged NGOs to become involved in supporting democracy and stressed the important role of youth in the electoral process. He referred to Democratic candidate Barack Obama’s strategy, which effectively deployed youth to help organize support for his campaign during the Primaries. In the course of the week-long program, Dr. Gellar shared views with participants and journalists on both the underlying concepts and the day-to-day practice of democracy, including the role of key institutions and civil society in building democratic systems.   

Dr. Gellar has 30 years of experience as an international development consultant with USAID, Club du Sahel, the UNDP, and other donors, and forty years of experience as a researcher and teacher. He has applied his skills as an institutional development specialist in a wide range of areas including democratic governance, civil society, participatory development strategies, decentralization, provision of public goods and services, natural resource management and rural development.

Dr. Gellar has also worked on political and economic reform policy in Senegal, Mali, and Guinea and done marketing studies of millet in Chad and of Arabica coffee in Cameroun. He is currently an independent development consultant and Research Associate at Indiana University's Workshop in Political Philosophy and Public Policy and is collaborating with other Workshop staff members to launch the Consortium for Self Government in Africa (CSGA). Dr. Gellar received his Ph.D in Comparative Government from Columbia University.