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The European Union and the Promotion of Democracy

The European Union and the Promotion of Democracy: Europe’s Mediterranean and East Asian Policies. Oxford University Press, 2002

 

Synopsis

This book assesses European Union policies aimed at encouraging democratization in East Asia and the North African and Middle Eastern States within the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership - these two regions being the source of some of the strongest conceptual challenges to 'Western' liberal democracy since the end of the cold war. The book addresses theoretical debates over the international dimensions of political change and the EU's characteristics as an international actor. The factors both driving and inhibiting European democracy promotion policies are explored. The book outlines the EU's distinctive bottom-up philosophy, aimed at constructing the socio-economic and ideational foundations for political liberalization, but argues that the EU has in practice failed to develop a fully comprehensive and coherent democracy promotion strategy.

Contents

  • Democracy Promotion in the 1990s: Agency, Motives, and Strategy
  • EU Democracy Promotion Instruments: Evolution and Shortcomings
  • The EU and the Mediterranean
  • The EU and Algeria
  • The EU and East Asia
  • The EU and China
  • Conclusion: Conceptualizing the EU as a Promoter of Democracy