The research proposal for a "German Research Network ‘External Democracy Promotion’ (EDP)" submitted by Jonas Wolff and Annika E. Poppe (Research Department IV) was successful and will be funded under the Leibniz Competition (formerly SAW Procedure) by the Leibniz Association for the duration of three years (2015-2018). The Leibniz Association has awarded this project 578,280 Euro.
The network brings together political science scholars from Germany working at the intersection of international relations and comparative politics. The joint interest is in the range of cross-border activities by states, non-state actors and international organizations aimed at establishing, improving or defending democracy in third countries. The topic of external democracy promotion has become particularly prominent with the often-criticized Freedom Agenda proclaimed by former U.S. President Bush and the related efforts to promote regime change by military force.
But, in the context of the so-called Arab Spring, also the range of peaceful activities through development cooperation or diplomatic means has received renewed public attention – both with a view to what external actors can and should do, and with a view to the limitations and contradictions of such interferences in the domestic affairs of other countries.
Existing research largely analyzes democracy promotion as a one-way-street relationship in which external actors do something that, then, has effects on recipient countries. The network, in contrast, is interested in studying what precisely happens when democracy promoters engage with counterparts – governments, political parties, civil-society groups, etc. – that themselves have meaningful agency. Which dynamics of interaction emerge, and what are the consequences for both the state of democracy in recipient countries and the shape of external democracy promotion? In theorizing and empirically studying these interaction processes, the network is making important contributions for both research and practice of democracy promotion.
The EDP network is a collaborative project of six partner institutions: the two Leibniz institutes Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, the German Development Institute (DIE), as well as three universities (Erfurt, Konstanz, Lüneburg).
Network members at these institutes are Johannes Gerschewski, Sonja Grimm, Julia Leininger, Solveig Richter, and Vera van Hüllen. Tina Freyburg at Warwick University is an associated member.
The network builds and expands upon an already existing structure – the “Discussion Forum External Democratization Policy”.
Coordination of the network is based at PRIF. Currently, the project launch is set for May 2015.