Cosmetic agreements and the cracks beneath: ideological convergences and divergences in US and EU democracy promotion in civil society

Abstract

This piece examines the substance of EU democracy promotion from a comparative point of view and from a perspective placing under inquiry the meaning of the idea of liberal democracy itself. Instead of assuming that the democratic ideal that the EU promotes (‘liberal democracy’) has a clear, fixed meaning, the article examines in detail what actually constitutes the ‘ideal of democracy’ at the heart of EU democracy promotion, and compares this vision to that which informs the democracy promotion of the US. It argues that interesting differences, and shifts and oscillations, in the models of liberal democracy that the EU and the US promote exist and that these are important to note in order for us to fully appreciate how the substance of EU and US democracy support can be shaped by conceptual and ideological debate on the meaning of democracy. This dynamic is particularly relevant today, in the context of the recent attempts to develop transatlantic dialogue on democracy support. This dialogue, it is suggested, plasters over some subtle but important ideological cracks over what is meant by democracy in EU and US democracy support.

Notes

¹ On multiple politico-economic models of democracy, see Kurki (2013, chapters 2 to 6).

² These liberal models of democracy are distinguished from ‘extra-liberal’ models by Kurki (2013). Thus, social democratic views on liberal democracy, for example, abandon trust in mere representative parliamentarianism, advocating an ambitious vision of ‘dual track democracy’ (Tilton 1991) where wage earners' rights are represented in the economic sphere as well as ‘politically’ in the parliamentary structures.

³ This does not mean that US democracy promotion might not be social democratic in its orientations in the future, nor that it has not previously promoted social democracy. Indeed, during the post-Second World War period, the US actively promoted a more social democratic understanding of democracy, especially in Germany and Japan. An important point to consider when considering the possibility of ‘social democracy’ promotion is that in the past social democracy seems to have primarily been promoted where core allies of Western states have been assisted, whereas in relation to other developing nations, the approach has been almost exclusively liberal, often neoliberal. For further discussion of conceptual contestations over democracy and development models in hierarchical power relations in the global order, see for example Sandbrook (2007), Duffield (2007) and Abrahamsen (2000). Within the confines of this article, it is not possible for us to explore in full detail these dynamics, but there is reason to believe that colonial legacies and even racism may play a role in shaping what is promoted and where by democracy promoters.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeff Bridoux

Jeff Bridoux is Lecturer in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. His current research focuses on perceptions of power in international politics, American foreign policy and post-conflict reconstruction. He is the author of American foreign policy and postwar reconstruction (Routledge, 2011) and with Milja Kurki of Democracy promotion: a critical introduction (Routledge, 2014). His work has been published in International Relations, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, International Journal of Human Rights, Third World Quarterly and Foreign Policy Analysis. Email: [email protected]

Milja Kurki

Milja Kurki is Professor in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. She is the author of Causation in international relations: reclaiming causal analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and Democratic futures: revisioning democracy promotion (Routledge, 2013). Her research investigates conceptual and theoretical aspects of international politics, recently in the context of democracy promotion and democratization.