The book provides a comprehensive overview and explanation of the substance of the European Union's (EU) democracy promotion policy. With the promotion of democracy becoming an increasingly important element of European Union foreign policy, the contributors argue that the question of what is actually being promoted by the EU in third countries must come to the fore of academic and practical discussions. Dealing with the democratic agenda promoted by the EU, this collection focuses on elections, civil and political rights, horizontal accountability, effective power to govern, stateness, state administrative capacity, civil society, and socio-economic context as components of embedded liberal democracy. The 11 empirical chapters examine 22 countries, combining a common analytical framework with critical discussions from various scholarly perspectives such as law, political economy, critical social theory, and governance.
