agenda setting - Forschungsstelle Osteuropa - Universität Bremen

26 Beiträge für die 19. Tagung Junger Osteuropa-Experten
Sonja Grimm and Lisa Maria Groß
Democracy Assistance, Conditionality and Supervision: EU Democracy
Promotion on the Western Balkans
Research Question
Faced.with.manifold.state.failures,.the.international.community.continues.to.look.for.effective.means.to.
promote.institution-.and.state-building.in.societies.under.threat..The.Western.Balkans,.where.external.
actors.contributed.substantially.to.peace-,.state-.and.democracy-building,.provides.a.good.case.study.
to.assess.the.success.and.failure.of.external.contributions.to.state-rebuilding..The.EU.was.one.of.the.key.
actors.active.in.this.process.and.particularly.assisted.with.the.political.reform.processes,.the.provision.of.
foreign.aid.and.the.supervision.of.state-building..However,.it.remains.unclear.under.which.conditions.
the.EU.was.best.able.to.use.instruments.as.different.as.assistance,.conditionality.and.supervision.in.the.
respective.post-war.societies..Despite.extensive.external.investment.in.post-conflict.transition.and.the.
development.of.democratic.political.institutions.(Grimm.2010:.349–363;.147–166),.experts.continue.
to.criticize.that.there.has.not.been.an.adequate.acceptance.and.internalization.of.democratic.norms.and.
rules.to.date.(Grandits.2007;.Sterbling.2003;.Zakošek.2008)..This.paper.argues.that.the.impact.of.external.democracy.promotion.cannot.be.fully.understood.without.taking.external-internal.interactions.into.
account..Indeed,.actor-centred.transition.literature.(Colomer.1991,.1995;.Higley/Burton.1987,.1989;.
Przeworski.1991:.51–99).has.identified.domestic.political.actors.as.the.key.actors.in.transition.processes,.
disregarding.whether.these.play.according.to.democratic.rules.or.not..However,.as.external.promoters.
of.democracy.enter.into.contact.with.domestic.political.actors,.one.can.assume.that.this.interaction.has.
effects.upon.the.actions.domestic.political.actors.take..This.does.not.mean,.though,.that.the.influence.of.
external.promoters.of.democracy.necessarily.has.to.be.all.but.positive,.as.most.studies.assume..Rather,.
external.promoters.of.democracy.may.well.distort.democratic.decision-making,.weaken.the.legislative,.
push.for.‘technical’.reforms,.and.discourage.the.democratic.commitment.of.both.the.political.elites.and.
the.population..The.question.that.arises.from.this.is.the.question.that.this.paper.seeks.to.answer:.How.
does.the.mode.of.interaction.of.external.and.domestic.actors.influence.the.consolidation.of.democratic.
behaviour.of.the.post-conflict.societies.on.the.Western.Balkans?
Paper Outline
The.paper.proposes.a.typology.of.instruments.used.by.external.actors.to.promote.democracy.in.transition.societies,.taking.especially.the.role.of.domestic.actors.and.their.impact.on.the.success.or.failure.of.this.undertaking.into.account..The.key.focus.hereby.is.on.the.interaction.between.external.and.internal.actors.in.dealing.with.these.instruments..Further,.this.paper.investigates.under.which.conditions.
the.various.instruments.work.best,.such.as.domestic.open-.and.willingness.for.reform,.the.absence.of.
domestic.veto.players,.or.the.presence.of.existing.support.for.democracy..Here,.the.paper.takes.the.conditions.specific.to.a.post-conflict.society.into.account.
The.paper.argues.that.the.EU.is.no.longer.simply.‘external’.to.democratization,.but.has.become.itself.a.
leading.actor.in.post-war.democratic.transition..As.a.result,.conflicts.have.emerged,.as.the.EU.has.come.
to.be.both.an.‘external’.and.‘internal’.actor,.assuming.the.two.roles.at.one.and.the.same.time..This.may.
explain.the.lack.of.success.when.it.comes.to.the.promotion.of.democracy.as.well.as.the.resilience.of.antidemocratic.behaviour.in.the.Western.Balkan.states.