Closing the closing space: sustaining democracy promotion in European foreign policy

Abstract

Democracy promotion is a policy firmly embedded in the EU’s external action. However, amidst a proclaimed “backlash” against democracy and the questioning of the merits of value-based policies by certain European leaders, the EU needs to reaffirm the importance of democracy promotion activities in pursuing its interests. This issue is all the more relevant as the EU elaborates its planned Global Strategy. This article argues that the promotion of democracy is – on the one hand – an important aspect of the EU’s political identity formation and – on the other hand – a policy with potentially important strategic payoffs. The EU needs to be aware of the strategic (as opposed to the normative) aspects of the policy and emphasize these to counter criticism that value-based policies only hurt the Union’s material interests. Furthermore, the paper proposes policy recommendations for burden-sharing and instrumental labour division among the EU, member states and organizations to help all actors navigate through the “closing space” for democracy promotion.