This Project Briefing summarises the key findings of a study on international democracy assistance by ODI and the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI). It provides a broad overview of the democratisation processes that have swept across Africa, Asia, and Latin America since the 1980s, and highlights some of the main lessons and implications for international democracy assistance to inform future donor practice. It finds that the central challenge for international democracy assistance is how to support ‘hybrid’ regimes. The relationship between democratisation and ‘good governance’ can be complex, with the two at times pulling in opposite directions. The Project Briefing says that donors need to recognise the tensions between long-term processes of democracy and the need for quick results.