Democratic conditionality in the Eastern enlargement: Ambitious window dressing

Eline De Ridder, Dimitry Kochenov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

This article addresses the promotion of democracy in the enlargement process of the central and eastern European countries (CEECs). We start by outlining EU democracy promotion during accession, with a particular focus on political conditionality. In a subsequent part, we argue that the European Commission did not make a clear substantive distinction between the concepts of rule of law and democracy. In addition, various drawbacks are identified, which demonstrate the vagueness and inconsistencies that characterize the EU's application of democratic conditionality. A final part illustrates these points by focusing on the EU's democratic conditionality towards the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The conclusion reads that the EU did not have a well-defined view and approach to the promotion of democracy and the rule of law in the eastern enlargement.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)589-605
Number of pages17
JournalEuropean Foreign Affairs Review
Volume16
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes

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