1st Edition

Comparative International Politics of Democracy Promotion

    312 Pages
    by Routledge

    312 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Though scholarly attention to democracy promotion is increasing, there is still little comparative and theoretically-based work on the protagonists of democracy promotion. This book investigates the motives that drive democracy promotion in a comparative and theoretically oriented manner, exploring how democracy promoters deal with conflicting objectives and the factors that shape their behaviour. It also addresses the more policy-oriented debate on the contemporary challenges to democracy promotion, focusing on US and German policies towards three kinds of challenges: the emergence of ‘radical’ leftist governments in Bolivia and Ecuador, the political rise of Islamist movements in Turkey and Pakistan, and the consolidation of (semi-)authoritarian rule in Belarus and Russia. In each case, North-Western democracy promoters have been confronted with serious conflicts of objectives between security, economic interests and democracy promotion. The analysis and comparison of such situations in which democracy promoters have to deal with competing objectives and make tough decisions provides powerful evidence as to the factors that shape democracy promotion.

    The Comparative International Politics of Democracy Promotion will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, comparative politics, democratization studies and foreign policy.

    Section I: A Comparative Perspective on Democracy Promotion: Germany and the US  1. Determinants and Conflicting Objectives of Democracy Promotion Jonas Wolff and Hans-Joachim Spanger  2. "Freedom Fighter" Versus "Civilian Power": An ideal-type comparison of the US and Germany Annika E. Poppe, Bentje Woitschach and Jonas Wolff  3. Norms Versus Interests: Determinants across the cases Daniel Schewe and Jonas Wolff  Section II: Case studies on German and US democracy promotion  4. Democracy Promotion in Bolivia: The "democratic revolution" of Evo Morales Jonas Wolff  5. Democracy Promotion in Ecuador: The "citizens’ revolution" of Rafael Correa Jonas Wolff  6. Democracy Promotion in Turkey: The rise of political Islam Cemal Karakas  7. Democracy Promotion in Pakistan: The rise and fall of General Musharraf Niels Graf and Iris Wurm  8. Democracy Promotion in Belarus: "Europe’s last dictatorship" Azer Babayev  9. Democracy Promotion in Russia: The ambivalent challenge of Putinism Hans-Joachim Spanger  Section III: Results and Conclusions  10. Democracy Promotion as International Politics: Comparative analysis, theoretical conclusions and practical implications Jonas Wolff

    Biography

    Jonas Wolff is senior research fellow at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), Germany.

    Hans-Joachim Spanger is member of the executive board and head of the research department ‘Governance and Societal Peace’ at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), Germany.

    Hans-Jürgen Puhle is professor emeritus of political science at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

    'The book makes a timely contribution of connecting the developmental and implementation parts of democracy promotion, which may potentially lead to understanding specific strategies and their outcomes. The analysis of specific case studies and the introduction of an analytical framework should be of interests to scholars and students of democracy promotion and foreign policy and can rightly find their spot in relevant graduate and post-graduate curricula.' - Dr. Nelli Babayan is a researcher at the Freie Universität Berlin.