Working Papers

REDEMOS Working Paper D2.2, December 2024

Taking Stock of EU Member States Democracy Action towards the Eastern Neighbourhood

Theofanis Exadaktylos, Michael Martin Richter, Arusyak Aleksanyan, Ashot Aleksanyan, Laura Chappell, Danil Denysenko, Valentina Gevorgyan, and Vanatur Sherents

This working paper sheds light on the democracy support actions of key EU Member States and reflects on the way they developed bilateral relations with the countries of the eastern neighbourhood. It offers a detailed overview and analysis of these actions, carefully selecting seven countries that have been heavily involved in the region in terms of democracy assistance: Germany, Poland, Sweden, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Keywords: European Union, Democracy, Democracy support, Eastern neighbourhood, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Democracy assistance

REDEMOS Working Paper D2.4, January 2025

Interplay of security & stability and democracy support

Ragnar Weilandt

Although supporting and promoting democracy has traditionally been a key theme of the EU’s external action, its record in that domain has been mixed. This has been partly attributed to both the challenges of promoting democracy in general as well as the adequacy and efficiency of the EU’s tools. At the same time, questions have been raised about how serious the EU actually is in promoting democracy, and to what extent its policies have been shaped by trade-offs between, on the one hand, norms and principles and, on the other, interests. In that context, a growing literature has been examining how EU external action and democracy promotion are shaped by concerns related to security and stability. Seeking to contribute to a better understanding of these dynamics in the EU’s engagement with the South Caucasus, this working paper zooms in on the cases of Armenia and Georgia, two EU neighbours that have been undergoing substantial change over the past two decades – both in terms of their geostrategic trajectory as well as their domestic political dynamics.

Keywords:Eastern neighbourhood, Eastern Europe, South Caucasus, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Security, Stability, Democracy support, EU, EU external action, EU democracy promotion, democratisation, autocratisation

REDEMOS Working Paper D3.1, March 2024

Conceptual framework EU democracy funding

Tina Freyburg, Madalina Dobrescu, and Anastasiia Vlasenko

This working paper outlines a conceptual framework to provide a coherent structure for our further data collection and analysis efforts. Drawing on this research, we make two contributions: First, we conceptually acknowledge the varieties of democracy in democracy assistance, and second, we empirically assess which of these varieties of democracy prevail in EU democracy assistance to the eastern neighbourhood countries, over time and across partner countries. 

Keywords: Democracy promotion, democracy assistance, european union, eastern neighbourhood, eastern europe, post-soviet space, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia

REDEMOS Working Paper D4.1, May 2024

Democratic progress, stasis, regression and authoritarianisation in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood

Madalina Dobrescu and Ragnar Weilandt

This working paper provides an in-depth stocktaking of democracy building efforts and failures in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine between 2010 and 2022. The democratic and autocratic trajectories of the six eastern neighbourhood countries examined point to the critical role of the demos in bringing about democratic change, sustaining democratic progress and deterring or reverting democratic regression, in particular when these processes are simultaneously supported by political elites and organised civil societies.

Keywords: Democratization, political transition, eastern europe, south caucasus, political participation, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia

REDEMOS Working Paper D5.2, November 2024

Conceptual framework & design of custom-made instruments of democracy promotion

Sergiu Buscaneanu and Marianne Kneuer

The REDEMOS Working Paper D5.2 presents a new approach to diagnosing political regimes and their development. Its objective is to enhance the precision and effectiveness of democracy support by tailoring it to the specific characteristics of target political regimes in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood. The paper advocates for a more refined and context-sensitive approach to democracy support, one that aligns with the political realities of the region.

Keywords: EU, Eastern neighbourhood, autocratisation, democracy support, regime classification, regime transition, regime states

REDEMOS Working Paper D7.2, November 2024

Narratives of external norm contenders across the EU’s eastern neighbourhood

Kristi Raik, Igor Gretskiy and Tetiana Fedosyuk

This paper focuses on narratives of contested democracy by third-country actors — notably Russia and China — in the European Union’s (EU) eastern neighbourhood. It is important to understand the anti-democracy narratives of these two authoritarian powers as part of the broader geopolitical context of the EU’s democracy support efforts in the region. In this paper, narratives are understood as sets of meanings that organise events and experiences and make sense of them. The paper draws on six case studies conducted by researchers in each country, and these case studies include qualitative content analysis of some of the most popular digital media outlets in each country, as well as expert interviews. The timeframe focuses on the pivotal years of 2013-14 and 2021-22.

Keywords: Democracy promotion, narratives, EU, European Union, Eastern neighbourhood, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, China, Eastern Europe