The European Union Promoting Democracy in South Africa: Strengths and Weaknesses

Abstract

The EU (European Union) is the largest donor of external assistance in the world. Democracy promotion became a relevant aspect of the EU’s international role in the early 1990s, during the post-Cold War international relations. Despite a lack of conceptual clarity in its democracy promotion strategies, the EU has often declared that the aim of supporting democracy throughout the world must be understood within the general framework of also ensuring social and economic development, referring to the indivisibility of human rights enshrined in the Vienna convention of 1993. Such an approach to democracy promotion can be interpreted, even more prominently, in the light of the UN flagship Millennium Development Goals, to which the EU attaches high priority in its external assistance policies. Often criticised to be incoherent and inconsistent in its punitive measures, the EU has demonstrated more efficacy in its positive measures aimed at democracy promotion, especially when the aim of consolidating democracy was doubled with important rewards (membership, association, etc.). The case of South Africa confirms strengths and weaknesses of such a multi-pronged approach. Since the late 1970s, South Africa has become an important issue for European foreign policy. The fall of apartheid was the goal to be reached until early 1990s, while the strengthening of the new democratic system became the central objective of EU democracy assistance after 1994. This paper shows how the EU followed different strategies before and after democratic transition and how different strengths and weaknesses can be detected. Given the strategic position of South Africa in the region and its symbolic importance, this case study is extremely noteworthy. Moreover, given the prominent role of the EU in the country, South Africa seems to be a relevant ‘test-bed’ for EU democracy promotion policies in the world, especially nowadays when long-term issues of consolidation seem to offer a more fertile ground for the EU multidimensional development strategy.This paper examines both negative measures (sanctions, embargoes, etc.) and positive measures (democracy assistance) for supporting democracy in South Africa between the late 1970s and early 1990s. Successively, a specific section is devoted to the analysis of democracy assistance policies carried out after the transition until now.