Exporting democracy abroad has become a significant element of the work of many international actors. Most of our knowledge about democracy promotion, however, comes from studying the activities of established (Western) democracies. I look instead at the efforts of a group of young democracies – the Eastern European members of the EU - which have become increasingly involved in supporting democratization abroad. I ask: What motivates their efforts? I conduct two in-depth mixed-methods case studies: Poland and Slovakia since they are representative of the two types of Eastern European democracy promoters and are further among the most active countries within their group. I find that Eastern European democracy promotion is best understood as a strategic response to the concerns dominating these countries’ foreign policies. Despite their reputation as democracy promotion “idealists,” these Eastern European governments have supported democracy abroad primarily to create a secure and stable international environment for their states. I argue that in Poland, much like in the other Baltic countries, democracy promotion emerged as an element of a geo-political strategy to create reliable partners in their eastern neighborhood and to deter Russian aggression. In Slovakia, as in some of the other Central and Southeastern European new democracies, democracy promotion became the solution to the political and economic destabilization as a result of the neighboring former Yugoslav and Soviet republics.
