Aligning Agendas: Assessing the EU's 'Good Governance' Strategy and Local Needs in the Eastern Neighbourhood

This paper examines a potential disconnect between the EU’s ‘good governance’ agenda for promoting democracy in Eastern Neighbourhood countries and the actual needs and desires of the target populations in these regions. While the EU, in collaboration with international organizations such as the World Bank, OECD, and UNDP, has promoted principles like openness, participation, responsibility, efficiency, and coherence as part of a cohesive foreign policy tool, critics question whether these values align with the priorities of local populations. The paper evaluates the EU’s objectives for good governance, the methods used to advance this agenda, and the monitoring and implementation processes across Eastern Neighbourhood countries. Specifically, it provides a comparative analysis of the agenda's influence on democratic development in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus, offering insights into how well the EU’s approach resonates with these societies.