Concepts of democracy, democratisation and external democracy promotion

Bassant Hassib () and Christian Kaunert ()

Chapter 1 in EU, Egypt and Democracy Promotion, 2025, pp 22-37 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter explores three interrelated theoretical dimensions: the different conceptualisations of democracy and democratisation, democracy as a universal value, and externally driven democratisation. It examines the theoretical underpinnings of democracy through minimalist and maximalist perspectives; the challenges of democratic consolidation, highlighting economic, cultural, and institutional barriers to democratisation; and the universality of democracy, juxtaposing its perceived Western-centric origins with its intrinsic appeal as a global value. The chapter adopts a holistic approach to analyse external democracy promotion, emphasising the interrelated factors shaping its effectiveness. It identifies two conditions representing internal dynamics and external strategies to support democracy. First, hosting countries must demonstrate institutional capacity, civic engagement, and positive societal perceptions of democratic reforms and external promoters. Second, external actors must ensure policy coherence, sufficient funding, clear benchmarks, and tailored strategies.

Keywords: Democracy; Democratisation; Universality of democracy; External democracy promotion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035350520
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035350537.00010 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24134_2

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().