Promoting democratic governance in the south

Arising from a survey of critical literature, three questions are posed concerning the linkage of development aid to the promotion of democratic governance. Is democracy promotion by Northern governments restricted to a narrow, procedural version? Is a ‘Western’ model of democracy imposed? Are programmes part of a wider neo‐liberal hegemonic project of global domination? Investigation is through a comparative examination of the political aid programmes of four official donors, the governments of Sweden, the UK and the US, plus the European Union. Analysis explores two main dimensions: the major recipient countries and the main beneficiary sectors to which political aid is directed. Findings are threefold. First, some emphasis on electoral assistance was confirmed, yet fairly substantial support was provided to other dimensions of democratic development, including civil society organisations, though the latter lacked focus and overall coherence. Second, each bilateral donor tends to promote and universalise its own country‐specific form of democracy. Third, whilst some credence is found for the predominance of hidden agendas, including economic liberalisation, there is also evidence of measures that are more genuinely orientated at promoting democratic development. Thus, it is argued that the picture of neo‐liberal hegemony is less a description of how the world is and more an account of some attempts to construct it. A counter‐hegemonic strategy includes pressure for greater host country authorship of political aid programmes, including the strengthening of processes of national democratic dialogue.