Democracy for export: the Europeanisation of electoral laws in the East European neighbourhood

Abstract

This paper argues that democracy promotion is not a “European Union (EU)-owned” policy and that the rule determinacy as well as the effective “anchoring” of democratic practices at the domestic level are a function of broader social structures and multiple actors at the European and domestic levels. The essay applies the international practices perspective on the relations of the European democracy promoters with the East European neighbours (EEN) and examines how the combined inter-institutional effort of the EU, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe affects the success of the pan-European democratic practices and policy instruments in the EEN electoral reforms. The analysis reveals that the domestic promotion of electoral reforms increases as a result of the common European democratic policy. Yet, when European institutions lack strong “sticks and carrots” and the EEN party systems are rather weak, the final Europeanisation outcomes depend on the domestic contextual factors.