Promoting global democracy : rethoric, reality and challenges of U.S.-EU cooperation

Abstract

Democracy promotion has become the proclaimed cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy since President Bush’s second term in office and efforts are underway to “spread democracy” globally. Cooperating with other democracies like the member states of the European Union would seem like a natural partnership, but is it? This thesis explores the challenges of U.S. – EU cooperation in promoting the U.S. vision of global democracy by looking at the role of democracy promotion within U.S. and EU foreign policy, forums for potential transatlantic cooperation such as NATO and the U.S. – EU summits, and U.S. – EU democracy promotion efforts and the complex realities faced especially for the EU in the case of Ukraine and Turkey. The author argues that internal pressures for the EU and priorities on its own continent as well as geopolitical realities faced by both actors in democracy promotion will limit broader cooperative efforts in the U.S. global democracy promotion mission. Further, the thesis demonstrates the larger challenges for both the U.S. and the EU in balancing strategies of democracy promotion with competing interests.