Democracy Assistance: Political vs. Developmental?

Two distinct approaches to international democracy assistance have emerged in recent years: the political approach and the developmental approach. They vary with respect to their underlying conceptions of democracy and democratization and their methods and areas of focus. U.S. democracy promotion ma...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of democracy 2009, Vol.20 (1), p.5-19
Main Author: Carothers, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aid coordination
Civil rights
Civil society
Democracy
Democratization
Development programmes
Economic development
Foreign Aid
International community
International Relations
Political change
Political Development
Political parties
Political systems
State building
Strategic behaviour
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Two distinct approaches to international democracy assistance have emerged in recent years: the political approach and the developmental approach. They vary with respect to their underlying conceptions of democracy and democratization and their methods and areas of focus. U.S. democracy promotion makes use of both approaches; European democracy support efforts largely favor the developmental approach. Neither approach is necessarily preferable overall; both have multiple strengths and weaknesses. The existence of two core approaches is evidence that democracy aid is diversifying to adapt to a more challenging international political landscape. Democracy-aid providers are moving away from one-size-fits-all strategies and are adapting their programs to diverse political contexts. Two distinct overall approaches to assisting democracy have emerged in response.
ISSN:1045-5736
1086-3214
1086-3214
DOI:10.1353/jod.0.0047