The Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe (IDEE) is an independent organization dedicated to the active promotion of democracy, civil society, and human rights throughout Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and other communist or post-communist countries. IDEE also seeks to share the varied experiences of democratic movements and the transitions from communism in Eastern Europe with political and human rights movements seeking democratic change in other parts of the world.

The Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe (IDEE) was formed in 1985 by the Committee in Support of Solidarity—started in December 1981 to aid Poland’s Solidarity movement after the imposition of martial law—with the aim of helping the growing democracy and human rights movements in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. IDEE organized substantial assistance to opposition groups at the forefront of the 1989-91 revolutions that brought about the fall of communism in the region. Since 1989, it has helped democrats in the region to overcome communism’s legacy, build democratic institutions, and oppose new forms of authoritarianism.