Call for papers

CALL FOR PAPERS

Workshop 'Comparative perspectives on the substance of EU democracy promotion'
Friday, 24 June 2011

Centre for EU Studies, Ghent University, Belgium
Organised by: Fabienne Bossuyt (Aston University), Jan Orbie (Ghent University), Michelle Pace (University of Birmingham) and Anne Wetzel (University of Zurich)

Democracy promotion in third countries has been on the EU’s agenda since the early 1990s. Over the past 20 years, EU democracy promotion activities have been substantiated through a ‘learning by doing’ process. In parallel with the development of the EU’s democracy promotion policy, a vast academic literature has emerged on the topic. While many studies have focussed on the impact and effectiveness of EU democracy promotion in third countries, others have dealt with the EU as a democracy promoter itself and, in particular, with its democracy promotion instruments and strategies. Attention is now also being paid to the democratic substance that the EU promotes. Scholars focussing on the issue of democratic substance aim at disaggregating the content of the EU’s democracy promotion activities into single aspects such as support for elections, the promotion of civil rights, rule of law, good governance and support to the development of civil society etc. 
However, the EU is not the only promoter of democracy. Rather, it acts in an environment that comprises a variety of other democracy promoters. While there are studies that compare the strategies and instruments of EU democracy promotion with those of other actors, including the US and international organisations such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), similarities and differences in the substance that is promoted have not yet been thoroughly and systematically explored. This workshop aims to address the question of how the substance of EU democracy promotion compares to what other democracy promoters advance in third countries. By other actors, we mean (i) EU Member States that maintain separate national democracy promotion programmes with varying foci, such as Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden; (ii) Non-EU countries that have substantial external democracy promotion programmes, such as the US, Canada, Norway and Japan; and (iii) other international organisations that promote democracy, such as the United Nations, the OSCE and the ADB.

The workshop wishes to address the above questions and invites papers that deal with one or several of the following topics:

- Is there a particular EU-specific conception of democracy underlying its democracy promotion activities?
- How can we characterise the substance that other actors promote in third countries and how does the substance of EU democracy promotion differ compared to other actors?
- Does the substance that EU Member States promote through their national policies differ from the substance that the EU advances, and if so, how? What factors account for possible differences?
- How do EU Member States influence the substance of EU democracy promotion? 
- How does coordination between the EU and other international democracy promoters shape the content of the EU’s policy (e.g. by sharing the work, hiding behind other actors)?
- Is the substance of EU democracy promotion influenced by policy paradigms that were developed by other international actors? Can we detect learning processes in EU institutions that concern the substance of democracy promotion? Is the EU a norm maker or a norm taker in this regard?

Please send an abstract of max. 600 words by Friday, 3 December 2010 to comparativeperspectives@yahoo.com. You will receive a notification of acceptance from the
workshop organisers by 17 December at the latest.
We are planning to include several advanced papers into a special issue on the topic of the workshop.
At the moment we are unfortunately not able to announce the reimbursement of travelling costs. However, we may have some funds to cover travelling expenses by June 2011.

http://www.ugent.be/ps/politiekewetenschappen/nl/onderzoek/onderzoeksgroepen/CEUS/Comparativeperspectivesworkshop.pdf