Democratic Audit

Stuart was Director of Democratic Audit for 15 years and is a Visiting Professor with the Government Department, University of Essex, and a research fellow at Essex's Human Rights Centre.  He assisted Professor Beetham in developing the democracy audit methodology and is the joint author of three democratic audits of the UK and handbooks on democracy for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the latest being Assessing the Quality of Democracy: a practical guide, plus a variety of books and reports for the Audit.

He acts as a consultant to select committees in the UK Parliament and internationally for the EU, UNDP, FCO and DFID. He is a former editor of the New Statesman and while there launched Charter 88, the movement for democratic reform in the UK. (now incorporated in Unlock Democracy).