Democracy Promotion and the Normative Power Europe Framework - The European Union in South Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia

This book presents a topical, holistic assessment of the European Union's democracy promotion in South-East Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, analyzed through the prism of the Normative Power Europe (NPE) framework of transnational policy formation. To do so, it brings together three scholarly domains that traditionally stand apart and are discussed separately. The first addresses the notion of the European Union conducting a normatively-driven foreign policy both near and far abroad. The second is concerned with the legitimacy, operationality, and effectiveness of promoting democracy in third-world countries. The third addresses the quality of the relationship the European Union has been able to establish with some vital - yet often troubled - countries in South-East Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Finally, based on the empirical findings presented in each chapter, this volume concludes by rethinking the concept and relevance of NPE to the field's understanding of the EU's foreign policy making. This edited volume offers the reader both a theoretically and empirically rich analysis of the European Union's efforts to promote democracy abroad. As such is scholars and students of EU studies, particularly EU foreign policy, as well as policy makers at EU and national level and civil society representatives responsible for designing/implementing democracy promoting projects on the ground.

List of contents

Introduction: EU Democracy Promotion in its Near (and Further) Abroad Through the Prism of Normative Power Europe.- Chapter 1: Framing the Debate: The Evolution of the European Union as an External Democratization Actor.- Chapter 2:  The Role of New Member States in the European Union's External Democratization Policy.- Chapter 3: The Limits of the EU's Normative myth in Armenia and Georgia.-  Chapter 4:  From Orange Revolution to Euromaidan: Ukraine, The EU and the Transfer of Democracy.- Chapter 5:  A Force For Good?: Assessing the EU's Normative Power in the Western Balkans.- Chapter 6:  The Emergence of State Capitalism in Central Asia - The Absence of Normative Power Europe.- Chapter 7: The EU's Democratization Policy Successes: Fit Between Internal and External Perception.- Chapter 8: Normative Power Europe, Democratization, and the Challenges of Complexity.- Conclusion: The Relevance of Normative Power in Changing Europe.

About the author

  Marek Neuman is Assistant Professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, where he conducts research into the European Union's foreign policy. He is particularly interested in the EU's external democratization policy towards the near and far abroad. Further, he focuses on the European Union's relations with Eastern Europe, particularly Russia, which he regularly visits as a research and teaching fellow.

Summary

This book presents a topical, holistic assessment of the European Union’s democracy promotion in South-East Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, analyzed through the prism of the Normative Power Europe (NPE) framework of transnational policy formation. To do so, it brings together three scholarly domains that traditionally stand apart and are discussed separately. The first addresses the notion of the European Union conducting a normatively-driven foreign policy both near and far abroad. The second is concerned with the legitimacy, operationality, and effectiveness of promoting democracy in third-world countries. The third addresses the quality of the relationship the European Union has been able to establish with some vital – yet often troubled – countries in South-East Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Finally, based on the empirical findings presented in each chapter, this volume concludes by rethinking the concept and relevance of NPE to the field’s understanding of the EU’s foreign policy making. This edited volume offers the reader both a theoretically and empirically rich analysis of the European Union’s efforts to promote democracy abroad. As such is scholars and students of EU studies, particularly EU foreign policy, as well as policy makers at EU and national level and civil society representatives responsible for designing/implementing democracy promoting projects on the ground.

Additional text

“The book is surprisingly coherent for an edited volume. It is carefully edited, and the individual chapters position themselves very clearly in relation to the book’s broad theoretical framework. … While using NPE as a framework to explain EU democracy promotion will mainly be of interest to academic readers, there is plenty of relevant insight in this volume for policy practitioners as well, especially in the empirical chapters.” (Balazs Szent-Ivanyi, Democratization, Vol. 26 (3), 2019)

Report

"The book is surprisingly coherent for an edited volume. It is carefully edited, and the individual chapters position themselves very clearly in relation to the book's broad theoretical framework. ... While using NPE as a framework to explain EU democracy promotion will mainly be of interest to academic readers, there is plenty of relevant insight in this volume for policy practitioners as well, especially in the empirical chapters." (Balazs Szent-Ivanyi, Democratization, Vol. 26 (3), 2019)

Product details

• Assisted by: Mare Neuman (Editor), Marek Neuman (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2018
• EAN: 9783030064921
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3006492-1
• No. of pages: 201
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 11 mm x 235 mm
• Weight: 338 g
• Illustrations: XI, 201 p. 4 illus. in color.
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science; Europa, B, Democracy, Political Science, International Relations, foreign policy, European Union, Politics & government, Political Science and International Studies, Diplomacy, EU (European Union), European Union Politics