Normative power and democracy promotion in the European Neighbourhood Policy – A comparative case study of Azerbaijan and Egypt

Abstract: The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is deemed to be the EU’s most ambitious initiative to date. The EU is often considered to have normative power over partner countries and therefore the concept of Normative Power Europe has been investigated. In order to narrow the scope, democracy promotion was chosen as the primary channel for normative power. The purpose is to investigate how the ENP uses normative power for democracy promotion. The study was conducted by firstly creating an analytical framework on normative power and democracy promotion. The chosen countries for analysis are Azerbaijan and Egypt. The framework was then applied to the ENP Action Plans and Progress Reports on Azerbaijan and Egypt. The results show that the ENP mainly uses its normative power to promote democracy through political dialogue, support to democratic actors and by creating incentives for democratic change. Additionally, the ENP strives for increasing commitment from the partner country as well to issue standards and norms.