Murat ÖNSOY, Gürol BABA

One Size Does Not Fit All: An Analysis of US and EU Democracy Promotion in the Western Balkans

In the post-Cold War era, with democratic peace theory on the rise, efforts to promote democracy aroundthe world have flourished. Western and Western democratic values-oriented states in particular haveacted on the belief that democracy promotion would contribute to world peace. Yet this process is not asutopian as described; it is also highly contingent, with no single prescription for success nor commonidea of what the end result should look like. This study elaborates the problematic aspects of democracypromotion by examining the case of US and EU democracy promotion in the Western Balkans. Theproblems uncovered in this analysis fall into three categories: 1) those stemming from the very nature ofdemocracy promotion as an exercise, 2) those specific to the promoters of democracy and 3) those relatingto the particular characteristics or circumstances of the target state or region. Based on the analysis, thisstudy concludes that such problems will continue to arise so long as the promoters of democracy continueto approach the process monolithically, without sensitivity to, and synchronization with, the cultural andpolitical realities on the ground in target states.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Democracy Promotion, Democratization, the United States (US), the European Union (EU)

PDF

___

BALFOUR, Rosa-Corina Stratulat, “The Democratic Transformation of the Balkans” EPC ISSUE PAPER NO. 66. 2011. http://www.epc.eu/documents/ uploads/pub_1363_the_democratic_transformation_of_the_balkans.pdf accessed on 27.10.2014
BECHEV Dimitar - Svetlozar Andreev, “Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Aspects of the EU Institution-Building Strategies “in the Western Balkans, Occasional PaperNo. 3/05, South East European Studies Programme, European Studies Centre, University of Oxford, 2005. BEICHELT, Timm, “The Research Field of Democracy Promotion”, Living Reviews in Democracy 3, 2012. BLOMBERG, Franziska, “The ‘Do-No-Harm’ Debate in External Democracy Promotion”, Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe 11, No. 3, 2012, p. 8-39. BÖRZEL, Tanja A.-Thomas Risse, “One Size Fits All! EU Policies for the Promotion of Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law,” Prepared for the Workshop on Democracy Promotion, Oct. 4–5, 2004, Center for Development, Democracy, and the Rule of Law, Stanford University. BÖRZEL, Tanja A. - Risse, Thomas, “Venus Approaching Mars? The EU as an Emerging Civilian World Power, Berlin Working Paper on European Integration No. 11, Frei University Berlin, 2009. BÖRZEL, Tanja A., When Europeanization Hits Limited Statehood: The Western Balkans as a Test Case for the Transformative Power of Europe, KFG Working Paper Series, No. 30 September 2011. BRINKLEY, Douglas, “Democratic Enlargement: The Clinton Doctrine”, Foreign Policy 106, 1997, pp. 110–127. BROK, Elmar, “Introductory remarks: the European Union and democracy promotion” Worldwide promotion of democracy: challenges, role and strategy of the European Union Brussels 5–6 June 2007. BROWN, Keith, Evaluating Intervention: Knowledge production and democracy promotion in the Western Balkans, Proposal (with budget omitted) submitted to NCEEER grant competition, 2006. BROWN, Keith, “Do We Know How Yet: Insider Perspectives on International Democracy Promotion in the Western Balkans”, the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, TITLE VIII PROGRAM, January 26, 2009. CAMPBELL, David, National Deconstruction: Violence, Identity, and Justice in Bosnia, University of Minnesota Press, 1998. CHANDLER, David, “Promoting Democratic Norms? Social Constructivism and the ‘Subjective’ Limits to Liberalism”, Democratization, 20, No. 2: 2013, pp. 215-239. CORCORAN, Paul E., “The Limits of Democratic Theory”. in Democratic Theory and Practice, ed. Graeme Duncan. CUP, Cambridge, 1983, p. 13-25. CAROTHERS, Thomas, “The End of the Transition Paradigm”, Journal of Democracy 13, No. 1, 2002, p.5-21. CAROTHERS, Thomas, “Democracy Assistance: The Question of Strategy” Democratization 4, No. 3, 1997, p. 121-122. CAROTHERS, Thomas, Aiding Democracy Abroad, the Learning Curve. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1999.