One Size Does Not Fit All: An Analysis of US and EU Democracy Promotion in the Western Balkans

Özet

In the post-Cold War era, with democratic peace theory on the rise, efforts to promote democracy aroundthe world have flourished. Western and Western democratic values-oriented states in particular haveacted on the belief that democracy promotion would contribute to world peace. Yet this process is not asutopian as described; it is also highly contingent, with no single prescription for success nor commonidea of what the end result should look like. This study elaborates the problematic aspects of democracypromotion by examining the case of US and EU democracy promotion in the Western Balkans. Theproblems uncovered in this analysis fall into three categories: 1) those stemming from the very nature ofdemocracy promotion as an exercise, 2) those specific to the promoters of democracy and 3) those relatingto the particular characteristics or circumstances of the target state or region. Based on the analysis, thisstudy concludes that such problems will continue to arise so long as the promoters of democracy continueto approach the process monolithically, without sensitivity to, and synchronization with, the cultural andpolitical realities on the ground in target states.