Brussels made democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and good governance its top co-operation priorities in the EU Strategy Framework towards Central Asia for 2007?2013. This book examines two interrelated questions: To what extent has EU democracy promotion in Central Asia been successful? And, to the extent that it was successful, why was it so? The book presents a comprehensive analytical framework for the evaluation of democracy promotion, including factors which may facilitate or hinder democratic development in Central Asia.

This book presents a topical, holistic assessment of the European Union’s democracy promotion in South-East Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, analyzed through the prism of the Normative Power Europe (NPE) framework of transnational policy formation. To do so, it brings together three scholarly domains that traditionally stand apart and are discussed separately. The first addresses the notion of the European Union conducting a normatively-driven foreign policy both near and far abroad. The second is concerned with the legitimacy, operationality, and effectiveness of promoting democracy in third-world countries. The third addresses the quality of the relationship the European Union has been able to establish with some vital – yet often troubled – countries in South-East Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Finally, based on the empirical findings presented in each chapter, this volume concludes by rethinking the concept and relevance of NPE to the field’s understanding of the EU’s foreign policy making. This edited volume offers the reader both a theoretically and empirically rich analysis of the European Union’s efforts to promote democracy abroad. As such is scholars and students of EU studies, particularly EU foreign policy, as well as policy makers at EU and national level and civil society representatives responsible for designing/implementing democracy promoting projects on the ground.

Richard Youngs is the director of Fride, Madrid, and an associate professor at the University of Warwick. He has authored five books, including Europe㠒ole in Global Politics: A Retreat from Liberal Internationalism --Book Jacket.

An all-inclusive, exhaustive evaluation of the foreign policy of the European Union Fourteen years ago the 2009 Lisbon Treaty put into place the legal and structural foundations for the European Union to play a role as a global actor. In the decade since, the EU itself has undergone intense political and economic stress, from debt crises to the rise of nationalist parties and the strains of Brexit. What effect have these changes had on the EU's foreign policy and its role in the world? This new edition of The Foreign Policy of the European Union offers an up-to-date and comprehensive examination of that question. The globe-spanning contributions to the book include a look at relations between Brussels and its regional neighbors, including Russia; the tensions that have arisen with the United States during the Trump administration; and the burgeoning relationship with China. How the EU is dealing with issues such as migration, terrorism, trade, and security round out the volume.

The edited volume attempts to critically approach EU-Central Asian relations, asking whether – when adopting a more sectoral governance approach – the EU’s transformative power vis-à-vis the region is greater than initially argued and if so, under what conditions it flourishes most. It assesses whether, through adopting a sectoral approach to the area of, development, infrastructure, water management, security, climate change, energy, trade, health, education, or any other element defining EU-Central Asian relations, the European Union is able to (co-)shape this geopolitically strategic region. If so, what drives the EU’s ability to do so; if not, what mitigates its (potential) influence? This book contributes to the scholarship on the EU’s external governance both empirically and theoretically.

This book considers the applicability and use of civil society, both as a concept and in practice, in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The volume examines whether civil society organisations (CSOs) are a progressive force for change, or a safety net. Various forms of CSOs are investigated: NGOs and community based organisations, trade unions, political parties and religious groups, as well as more long-standing soviet and traditional institutions and practices. The book contains lessons and perspectives about civil society growth across time, and considers future directions.

From limited interactions in the early 1990s, the EU and Central Asia now consider each other to be increasingly important. This book includes 12 chapters written by seasoned and policy-engaged researchers from across Eurasia and the wider world that analyse multiple levels of mutual interactions, understandings and misunderstandings across a range of policy areas. It shows why and in what ways exactly the EU and Central Asia matter to each other and why policymakers and researchers should pay more attention to their interactions. Central Asia falls under the broader external relations and security agenda of the EU, and over years it provided a testing ground for many EU policies, including the priority ones of region-building and resilience promotion. Looking at the EU, in turn, informs as to how Central Asian actors interact with external partners of the region, and how that can influence national policy agendas and consequently everyday life – bringing new approaches, insights and evidence also to the wide field of EU studies. This book is of key interest to scholars, practitioners and students of Central Asian history and politics, EU foreign policy, EU-Central Asia relations, and more broadly of EU studies, International Relations, regionalism and interregionalism as well as security studies. The chapters in this book were published over three issues of Central Asian Survey.

In June 2007, the Council of the European Union (EU) adopted The EU in Central Asia: Strategy for a New Partnership, highlighting the growing importance of Central Asia to the EU. This book examines the EU's policy towards the five Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in light of this Strategy. The analysis focuses on the EU's Central Asia Strategy and provides an evaluation of the EU's performance in meeting its policy goals in the region. It starts by looking at the EU as an actor, and discusses the general framework of EU-Central Asia cooperation. The book goes on to focus on the Strategy's general strategic directions and, in particular, its set of concrete policy commitments and questions whether these are adequately designed and implemented so they are able to contribute to regional security and stability. The book contributes to a better understanding for the pitfalls of overall stability in Central Asia, as well as studies on European Union and International relations.

"The court examined how the European Commission (EC) and the European External Action Service (EEAS) planned and managed development assistance to the Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) in the period 2007-2. In challenging circumstances, planning and allocation of assistance were generally satisfactory. Implementation was less so. The court makes a number of recommendations. The EC and the EEAS should design any future regional programmes so that they are likely to achieve a genuine regional dimension. They should concentrate all assistance provided on a small number of sectors. For any continuing budget support programmes, they should define and apply robust and objectively verifiable conditions, in particular giving sufficient attention to support for anti-corruption mechanisms."-- Page [4] of cover.