The Crisis of Democracy Promotion: The Rhetorics and Practice of the EU's Democratization Policy in Its Neighbourhood II

Abstract

The proposed panel is the second panel of two (please, consider the first panel proposal submission entitled “The Crisis of Democracy Promotion: The Rhetorics and Practice of the EU’s Democratization Policy in Its Neighbourhood I as an inseparable element of this very panel proposal) that juxtaposes the European Union’s rhetorical commitment to promoting democracy abroad with its external democracy promotion in its near neighbourhood in practice. It is based on a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies to be published in early 2017 and as such wishes to present a series of papers on the topic to receive further comments and suggestions for improvement from the audience before final submission to the journal. To offer a holistic picture of the juxtaposition in question, the first paper of this panel assesses the role civil society organizations – through the Civil Society Facility platform – play in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Montenegro. The second paper, while still concerned with democratization efforts in the Western Balkans, employs time-series cross-sectional data of all Western Balkan states to assess the consistency of the European Union when promoting democracy in its neighbourhood. The third paper discusses the role domestic politics and the (indirect) involvement of Russia in domestic affairs has had on the EU’s normative power in Armenia and Georgia. The next paper takes a somewhat different approach by claiming that the European Union’s democratization efforts can only be as successful as it is perceived to be a legitimate democratization promoter by third countries. Consequently, it assess to what extent this is the case, further enhancing the European Union’s normative appeal. The final paper discusses the previous contributions with the aim of establishing more general conclusions regarding democratization as an identifiable aspect of the European Union’s foreign policy vis-à-vis its neigbhourhood. Through this, it outlines possible new venues for studying the European Union’s external democratization efforts, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. Together with the first panel proposal, these paper contributions offer a holistic reading of the European Union’s efforts in its Eastern and South-Eastern neighbourhood.

Title	Details
EU Democracy Promotion via New Enlargement Policy in Western Balkans: Contributing to a More Open, Participatory, and Dynamic Democracy?	View Paper Details
Contradictory Facets of the EU’s Normative Power in Armenia and Georgia	View Paper Details
Perception of the EU as an International Actor	View Paper Details
Framing the Normative Paradox: The Democratization Aspect in the European Union’s Relations with its Neighbourhood	View Paper Details