From Aid to Empowerment: The Impact of Democracy Assistance on Civil Society

Marike Blanken, Felix Wiebrecht and Adea Gafuri

Journal of Development Studies, 2025, vol. 61, issue 11, 1737-1755

Abstract: A growing body of research indicates that democracy aid improves levels of democracy in recipient countries. However, the precise mechanisms behind this relationship are understudied. Contributing to the debates on democracy promotion, we argue that earmarked funding channelled through civil society strengthens civil society organisations’ capacity building, curbs corruption, and reduces information gaps. Consequently, aid empowers civil society and ultimately enhances democracy in recipient countries. Using aid data from OECD-DAC and Varieties of Democracy, we analyse earmarked funding for civil society organisations across 128 recipient countries between 2005 and 2021 and find evidence for the positive but modest impact of this type of aid. The results demonstrate that democracy aid channelled through CSOs is positively associated with both, the strength of civil society and democracy levels in the recipient country, although the associations are relatively weak. We also find these associations to be slightly stronger in closed authoritarian regimes. This work contributes both theoretically and empirically to the debates about the effectiveness of democracy aid and the role of civil society in democratisation processes.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2025.2487005

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