International IDEA’s full report on Democracy in Development – Global consultations on the EU's role in democracy building was officially launched and handed over to the Swedish EU Presidency on 23 October 2009 during the annual European Development Days. The report is the result of global/regional consultations led by International IDEA and sponsored by Sweden and, subsequently, the Netherlands, aimed at producing a deeper understanding of how the EU can best assist democracy building efforts worldwide.
The EU is one of the largest economic and political entities globally. It is also the largest provider of international development assistance in the world. Its policies and actions impact democracy-building both within and beyond its member states.
Much has been done to strengthen these aspects; still there is room for improvement. The EU could learn from its partners in Europe and within the African, Asian, Arab World and Latin American regions. International IDEA therefore launched an initiative aiming at deepening the understanding of how EU policies and actions impact democracy building worldwide. The project was initiated in September 2008 and ends by June 2010.
International IDEA’s analyses and consultations have resulted in a set of policy options for strengthening the democracy building dimension of EU policies and actions. These policy options were presented to Sweden and the Swedish EU presidency on 3 July 2009.
The full report, including chapters with region-specific analysis, is available at this website. You can access the wealth of information available in the form of discussion papers shedding light to different aspects of the EU’s policies and actions in the different regions.
About the project
International IDEA has led a process of providing analytical and policy inputs to the EU, based on broad consultations in five regions: Africa, the Arab world, Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia and Southeast Asia. By asking the EU’s partners how they perceive the EU’s efforts in the area of democracy-building – its functionality and regional relevance – the objective was to learn more and find new ways to improve these efforts and move the democracy-building agenda forwards.
“When I look at the EU, I see a world power that does not know how powerful it is. I look at a world power that has a problem of identity. There is a problem in the communication of what the EU is”.
Dr Marta Lagos, Executive Director, Latinobarómetro, Chile
The cross- and multi-sector analyses are based on two perspectives: on the one hand there has been a mapping of the EU’s intentions – policies and actions. On the other hand, the project explored regional perceptions of the EU’s intentions.
Key partners in the consultations have been the main regional organizations such as the African Union (AU), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the League of Arab States (LAS). For South and Southeast Asia, consultations were organized together with the regional think tanks: South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPs), and the Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) respectively – and in close communication with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC).
The International IDEA initiative has:
- provided analytical and policy inputs for a political process with and within EU institutions;
- provided analysis on perceptions of EU efforts in the area of democracy building: its functionality and regional relevance;
- invited the regions to open dialogue on key issues of importance for a future democracy and development agenda; and
- organized systematic and broad consultations both in Europe and in the EU’s major partner regions with a wide range of different actors.
The project consisted of five phases:
