Transversal Democracy Projection in the Mediterranean: A De-Centred Practice Analysis

Abstract

To what extent is the EU a democratic actor in international relations? This is a multifaceted question, and it has been tackled from several angles in the academic literature. There is the liberal/normative power debate about states – and in this case associations of states – projecting their founding values internationally: part of this debate has focussed on EU democracy promotion abroad; another part has examined the role of the EU and European states as – liberals argue – models of democratic practice which other states either emulate or are affected by through ‘contagion’. There is the controversy – in part at least in contraction with the former debate – on whether the EU should in fact be considered a democratic actor at all or if it is ‘democratically deficient’ in various ways (Follesdal and Hix 2006). There is, finally, the debate around the primordial issue of actorness: to what extent is the EU an actor on the international stage? If it is indeed an actor, what defines it and in what areas does it act (Hill 1993, Drieskens 2017)? This panel will argue is a dimension missing in these debates around the EU as a democratic actor in international politics – and indeed in theorizing international democracy projection generally. Existing discussions fail to capture what we call a transversal policy dimension of external democracy projection. We argue that this transversal policy dimension lies between, on the one hand, possible ‘contagion’ ‘diffusion’, ‘policy transfer and learning’ or ‘demonstration’ effects, where democratic actors – and in this case the EU – remain passive ‘models’ for others to emulate and , on the other hand, direct, specifically designed policies of democracy promotion. The argument is that democracy promoters such as the EU interact directly with recipients of democracy assistance also outside the donor-recipient relationship in various policy areas, ranging from environmental governance to trade. This panel analyses to what extent such interactions are marked by democratic norms and have an effect on political systems in the states in question. In other words, we focus on the extent to which basic democratic norms affect modes of EU interactions with other actors (including state agencies and representatives, NGOs, trade unions, business organizations, and journalists) in policy areas outside democracy support – hence the notion of transversal democracy projection. The focus on direct interactions beyond the donor – recipient relationship brings with it a concern with the “recipient” side: democracy is in its very essence reciprocal, and an understanding of the extent to which EU relations with recipients of democracy promotion also outside the strict donor –recipient relationship has some democratic characteristics will necessarily imply examining the agency of the “recipient” side of democracy assistance and democracy promotion efforts writ large. (co-authored/ convened with Anna Khakee University of Malta)

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