The Push-Pull Balance in the EU’s Democratic Conditionality and its Deterioration

Abstract

It is possible to argue that there exists a push-pull balance in the EU’s democratic conditionality that the EU has been applying since the South European states applied for membership and/or association agreement. This article argue that this push-pull balance in conditionality has created the dynamics that could transform candidate states; and the best example that demonstrates the successful impact of the EU conditionality is the relation between the EU’s Eastern enlargement, the EU’s democratic conditionality and the successful transformation of political regimes in the Central and Eastern Europe.

Keywords

European Union, Conditionality, Democracy, Democratization, Enlargement

Citation

Usul, Ali Resul, “The Push-Pull Balance in the EU’s Democratic Conditionality and its Deterioration”, International Relations, Volume 5, Issue 17 (Spring 2008), pp. 105-125.

Affiliations

• Ali Resul Usul, Bahçeşehir University, Department of Political Science and International Relations