EU Good Governance Promotion in the Age of Democratic Decline

The European Union (EU) support for good governance reforms has been the cornerstone of its conditionality and funding policies and contributed its role as a transformative power. This book re-evaluates the EU’s governance promotion capacity both within the EU and beyond its borders in light of the simultaneous decline in democracy in Europe in particular, and across the whole world in general. The book is divided into three parts. Part I focuses on the EU’s good governance transfer to member and accession countries. Part II examines how and to what extent the EU’s governance promotion strategies travel beyond its borders and focuses on neighbours, partners, and aid recipient countries especially in Africa. Part III turns to other regional and global actors and discusses the implications of illiberal contesters such as China and Russia on the future of EU’s good governance promotion efforts. The findings of the book bring fresh insights for the scope and depth of the EU’s governancetransfer capacity. Acknowledgements Contents Notes on Contributors Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction References Part I EU’s Promotion of Good Governance in the European Periphery What Are We Relearning in the Age of Democratic Decline? 2 Governance Quality and Transparency of Politics in the European Union Introduction Relationship Between Political Financing Status and Level of Democracy, Freedoms, Corruption Perception and Governance Performance Relationship Between Political Finance Regime and Level of Democracy: One-Way or Reciprocal Interaction? Political Finance Regimes of EU Member and Candidate States Democracy, Freedoms, Corruption, and Governance in EU Member and Candidate States Transparency International CPI Freedom House The EIU Democracy Index Bertelsmann Foundation Transformation Index (BTI) Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) A General Assessment References 3 Rising Illiberalism in the European Periphery and the EU’s Application of Membership Conditionality for Democratic Governance Introduction EU Membership Conditionality and Governance Transfer to Third Countries The EU’s Refugee Crisis: Strategic Partnership Undermining Conditionality in EU-Turkey Relations The Making of a Strategic, Transactional Partnership Implications of EU-Turkey Strategic Partnership for EU Conditionality and Illiberal Governance in Turkey Conclusion Notes References 4 Externalising Externalisation and Bad Governance of Migration in the EU: Turkey Learning from Europe Introduction Externalisation: The State of the Art Externalisation by Turkey: Lessons Being Learned Conclusion References 5 EU as a Good (Enough) Governance Exporter in Kosovo? Local Views on the Aborted Kosovo E Re Power Plant Project Introduction EU’s Engagement Without Recognition: Kosovo with an Asterisk (*) Kosovo’s (Aborted) Coal Power Plant: Kosovo E Re The EU as an Important but Reluctant Actor During the Kosovo E Re Debates Conclusion Note References Part II Bad Neighbours, Worse Donor Darlings? When the EU’s Promotion of Good Governance Travels Abroad 6 The EU’s Promotion of Good Governance and Democracy in the South Caucasus: Regional Strategies and Domestic Constraints Introduction The EU’s Good Governance Promotion Strategies in the South Caucasus Russia and the EU in the South Caucasus The EU’s Regional Strategies and Domestic Constraints in the South Caucasus Georgia and the EU Azerbaijan and the EU Armenia and the EU Conclusion References 7 EU Good Governance Promotion and Development Cooperation in Sub-Saharan Africa in an Age of Democracy Crisis Introduction Evolution and Framework of EU-Sub-Saharan Africa Relations Understanding the Main Characteristics of the EU’s Good Governance Aid Data Decrypting the EU’s Good Governance Promotion Instruments in SSA Financial Instruments Political Instruments Conclusion References 8 Assessment of Good Governance and Gender Equality in the EU’s Budgetary Support Programme in Tanzania: Insights from Agriculture Sector Introduction The EU’s Promotion of Gender Equality and Good Governance: The State of the Art Development Aid as an EU Tool for Promoting Good Governance in Africa Donor-Recipient Relations Between the EU and Tanzania in the Case of Promoting Gender Equality Promotion of Gender Equality in the EU’s Budgetary Support Programme in the Tanzanian Agriculture Sector Conclusion Notes References 9 Promotion of What Now? EU’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) Policies in the Changing European and Global Context Introduction The EU’s ODA Policies and Good Governance Agenda Mapping the Change in the EU’s Governance Agenda in Its ODA Policies Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) European Development Fund (EDF) The EU’s Revised ODA Policies in the Changing Liberal Order References Part III Rethinking the Role of Alternative Governance Exporters 10 EU Democratic Governance Promotion Towards Central Asia and Illiberal Regional Powers Introduction Theoretical and Conceptual Framework of the EU Democratic Governance Promotion Central Asia as a Region of Increasing Diversity The Historical Evolution of the EU’s Democratic Governance Promotion Policies in Central Asia Examining the Substance of EU Democratic Governance Promotion in Central Asia The Missing Link: The Role of Illiberal Regional Powers in the Differentiated EU Democratic Governance Promotion Agendas Conclusion Notes References 11 The External Face of the EU’s Cybersecurity Policies: Promoting Good Cybersecurity Governance Abroad? Introduction The Content of Good Cybersecurity Governance Channels and Mechanisms of Promotion Alternative Providers of Governance and Internal Developments Within the EU: A Democratic Decline? Alternative Providers—China and Russia Developments Within the EU Conclusion Notes References 12 The China Model Debate: China as an Alternative Governance Exporter? Introduction The China Model as Gradualism and Pragmatism in Economic Governance The China Model as an Approach to Ordering State-Market Relations China Model as Authoritarian Resilience Conclusion Notes References 13 Still a Good Governance Exporter? Questioning EU’s Transformative Power in the Age of Democratic Decline Introduction Member States and Candidates: Does EU Conditionality Still Hold? Beyond Enlargement? Geopolitics, Internal Disunity, and Illiberal Contesters The Main Takeaways and Implications for the Future References Index