Democracy From the Outside-In?

This study explores the literature on factors
favorable to democratization; in particular the
phenomenon of democracy promotion in international
politics. It is argued that there has been a
domestic dominance, with international factors a
forgotten dimension. It is also argued that the
limited body of work dealing with international
factors has been empirical in nature. This study
sheds lights on one international factor in
democracy promotion. The theoretical contribution of
this study is the presented analytical framework for
democracy promotion. The empirical contribution is
to provide an improved understanding of democracy
promotion and democratization in postcommunist
Europe. This is done by analyzing the role of the EU
as democracy promoter in Slovakia, Belarus and FRY
from 1995 to 2003.

Autorentext

Daniel Silander is a Senior Lecturer at Vaxjo University, Sweden. Dr. Silander's main expertise includes the areas of democratization and democracy promoting measures, globalization and proliferation of norms, and the European Union.

Klappentext

This study explores the literature on factors favorable to democratization; in particular the phenomenon of democracy promotion in international politics. It is argued that there has been a domestic dominance, with international factors a forgotten dimension. It is also argued that the limited body of work dealing with international factors has been empirical in nature. This study sheds lights on one international factor in democracy promotion. The theoretical contribution of this study is the presented analytical framework for democracy promotion. The empirical contribution is to provide an improved understanding of democracy promotion and democratization in postcommunist Europe. This is done by analyzing the role of the EU as democracy promoter in Slovakia, Belarus and FRY from 1995 to 2003.