This article examines how non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) balance their moral ... more This article examines how non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) balance their moral and organisational/financial incentives in the case of the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF). The EUTF was created in 2015 to support the European Union's (EU's) migration policy by addressing the 'root causes' of migration in Africa. The article analyses how NGDOs have reacted to the EUTF using qualitative textual analysis of publications and press releases, and finds that NGDOs have been highly critical of the EUTF's underlying narrative, goals and implementation. Their positions align closely with the stated moral vision of supporting and empowering the global poor. Despite this critical position, many NGDOs have benefitted financially from the EUTF as project implementers. Regression analysis on the determinants of NGDO participation in EUTF projects reveals that NGDOs have largely avoided the more controversial migration management projects of the EUTF, and have focused mostly on projects that build resilience in local communities and support improving the lives and the rights of the poor in Africa. The case of the EUTF shows that NGDOs mostly practise what they preach, and while they did not abstain from the EUTF, they did not allow their financial incentives to fully dictate their actions either.
European non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs) have used naming and shaming extensiv... more European non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs) have used naming and shaming extensively in their advocacy to push the EU and member state governments to implement international norms on foreign aid. The paper analyses the contents of NGDO advocacy publications, with the goal of gaining insight into how and why these organisations engage in naming and shaming. The exercise reveals that NGDOs are highly selective in the norms they promote through naming and shaming: they shame governments heavily for not implementing norms on aid quantity, but are less vocal on norms related to aid effectiveness. The paper shows that NGDOs strategically select norms in their naming shaming activities which have higher resonance with the public and are less costly to monitor, criteria which aid quantity norms fulfil. There is also some evidence that NGDOs promote increasing the quantity of aid because it would enhance their own access to donor funding.
The paper analyses why asylum seekers choose Hungary as an entry point to the European Union. Amo... more The paper analyses why asylum seekers choose Hungary as an entry point to the European Union. Among the Central and Eastern European countries Hungary has been by far the most popular choice for asylum seekers between 2002 and 2016, yet surprisingly, it has been neglected by the literature. Using a panel dataset and fixed effects regressions, the paper finds that beyond being 'conveniently' located on the Balkans migration route, variables related to Hungary's immigration policy are the most significant determinants of asylum seeker choices. The paper finds no evidence to support recent claims by the Hungarian government that arrivals to the country are actually economic migrants and not asylum seekers; quite the contrary, the results indicate that on average asylum seekers entering Hungary are fleeing violent conflict in their countries of origin.
Motivation: The paper examines the advocacy strategies used by European non-governmental developm... more Motivation: The paper examines the advocacy strategies used by European non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs). The literature on development aid has not put much emphasis on understanding the aid-related advocacy strategies of NGDOs, and the literature on interest groups has so far paid little attention to explaining why these select different advocacy strategies within the same policy area. Purpose: The paper aims to explain how NGDOs have selected advocacy strategies during the process of reformulating the European Consensus in 2016/17, in response to the European Union’s attempts to divert aid from poverty reduction to three other goals: managing migration, funding climate change adaptation, and funding the private sector. Approach and methods: Using insights from the interest group and social movements literatures, the paper develops a framework explaining NGDO strategy selection, looking at the politicization of the policy change, its impact on NGDOs’ funding, and its relation to the groups’ normative positions. The paper uses qualitative data from NGDO documents and interviews with senior staff and advocacy officers of NGDO networks based in Brussels. Findings: NGDOs used very different strategies for the three cases of aid diversion: they contested aid diversion for managing migration; mainly choose fence-sitting in case of climate change adaptation; and gradually became more adaptive towards diverting aid to fund the private sector. The paper shows that the three variables of politicization, impact on funding, and relation to normative positions explain the strategies selected by NGDOs in all three cases. Policy implications: The findings can help NGDOs in selecting the most appropriate advocacy strategies for changes in aid policy, and can thus become more effective in influencing the EU institutions and member state governments.
The Central and Eastern European (CEE) EU member states have emerged as new donors of internation... more The Central and Eastern European (CEE) EU member states have emerged as new donors of international development assistance after the turn of the Millennium. The literature has tended to focus on the bilateral components of these policies, and neglected CEE multilateral aid. The paper contributes to filling this gap by examining how and why the CEE donors contribute to trust funds operated by multilateral donors. The aim of the paper is twofold: first, it provides a descriptive account of how the CEE countries use trust funds in the allocation of their foreign aid. Second, it explains this allocation using data from qualitative interviews with CEE officials. The CEE countries make much lower use of trust funds than could be expected. This is not only due to the loss of visibility and control over their resources, but also to how CEE companies and NGOs rarely achieve funding successes at multilateral organizations.
The paper examines the democracy aid practices of the Czech Republic and Poland in Georgia. These... more The paper examines the democracy aid practices of the Czech Republic and Poland in Georgia. These two countries have recently emerged as promoters of democracy, and have argued that their own transition experience puts them in a unique position to support democratization and the consolidation of democracy in the EU's Eastern Neighbourhood. The paper evaluates how these two countries provide democracy aid to Georgia along three criteria, derived from the aid effectiveness literature: supporting locally driven change, learning from results and coordination. The results indicate that both countries have plenty of space to improve the way their democracy aid is delivered. Neither country has formal systems in place to ensure that they actually support Georgian priorities; evaluations are ad hoc and feedback loops missing; and there is significant scope to improve coordination with other donors. Nonetheless, there seems to be a general perception among stakeholders that the democracy aid provided by the Czech Republic and Poland is relevant to Georgia's needs.
Reviewing European Union Accession. Unexpected Results, Spillover Effects, and Externalities
It is now more than ten years since the states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) moved from rec... more It is now more than ten years since the states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) moved from recipients of development aid to donors of development aid. The chapter shows that in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia there has been an increase in aid levels and the creation of legal and administrative structures for development policy. The states under study have clear priority areas for their bilateral aid, focusing on the Eastern Neighborhood and areas of strategic interest. Overall, the chapter argues that a combination of low EU priority, soft law, and lack of political drivers in the accession states created weak foundations for development policy that have had a long lasting legacy. International recognition of the status of being a donor via membership of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) for some states does little to mask the weaknesses, and more work needs to be done to provide the policy with firm political foundations.
Europe’s slow recovery after its double-dip crisis continued in 2016, with the continent’s growth... more Europe’s slow recovery after its double-dip crisis continued in 2016, with the continent’s growth rate reaching 1.8 per cent. While by no means a spectacular pace, it fits into the broader pattern of the previous two years, and given the weak performance of the global economy, as well as mounting geopolitical uncertainties, it is not to be underestimated. The recovery, mainly driven by consumption and renewed investment, has had a strong impact on labour markets, with unemployment rates across the continent decreasing for the third year in a row. Inflation, heavily subdued in 2015 and bordering on deflation, picked up. Government balances continued to improve and average public debt edged slightly downwards. The legacies of the crisis, however, are still holding Europe back.
Condemned to be left behind ? Can Central and Eastern Europe emerge from its low-wage model ?, 2017
The paper analyzes the challenges that investment promotion policies face in the Visegrad 4 (V4) ... more The paper analyzes the challenges that investment promotion policies face in the Visegrad 4 (V4) countries in the “post-FDI” age. It categorises these challenges into three groups (the changing competitive advantages of the V4; the questionable long- term development impacts of FDI; and the changing nature of multinational production), and argues that investment promotion and other policies in the region have thus far only partially responded to these. The paper recommends a number of policy options for V4 governments which canto ensure that these countries not only remain favourable locations for international business, but also benefit from the presence of foreign companies. A number of these measures go beyond traditional investment promotion policies, and thus require a holistic approach from governments.
Democratization in EU Foreign Policy: New member states as drivers of democracy promotion by Benedetta Berti (Editor), Kristina Mikulova (Editor), Nicu Popescu (Editor) , 2015
The chapter analyses CEE international development policies, focusing on the impact of these coun... more The chapter analyses CEE international development policies, focusing on the impact of these countries’ ‘transition experience’ on policy preferences. Using discourse analysis of official documents, the chapter asserts that transition experience is seen as a unique comparative advantage for CEE countries, and it has emerged as the constituting narrative of their donor identities. In turn, this explains why CEE development policies emphasise the support of democratisation and democratic consolidation in recipient countries. However, there are some potentially problematic side-effects: using transition experience also implies a technical understanding of democracy and, in essence, it de-politicises democracy aid by promising technical solutions to problems which are essentially political.
In this paper we explore the implications of Brexit for the UK and the EU's development policies ... more In this paper we explore the implications of Brexit for the UK and the EU's development policies and strategic directions, focussing on the former. While it is likely that the operational process of disentangling the UK from the various development institutions of the EU will be relatively straight‐forward, the choices that lie ahead about whether and how to cooperate thereafter are more complex. Aid and development policy touches on a wide range of interests – security, trade, climate change, migration, gender rights and so on. We argue that Brexit will accelerate existing trends within UK development policy, notably towards the growing priority of private sector‐led economic growth strategies and blended finance tools. There are strong signals that UK aid will be cut, as successive Secretaries of State appear unable to persuade a substantial section of the public and media that UK aid and development policy serves UK interests in a variety of ways.
The accession of the East-Central European (ECE) countries carried a promise of enhancing and enr... more The accession of the East-Central European (ECE) countries carried a promise of enhancing and enriching the EU's Eastern policy. The new member states had the strongest interests among EU member states to ensure that countries in the East are prosperous, stable and democratic. Yet, EU's Eastern policy has been largely criticised for its ineffectiveness. So why have they not been able to address the shortcomings in the EU's Eastern policies? The article argues that the ECE countries supported the way the EU's Eastern policies were conceived and implemented because they saw it as a potent vehicle to promote their own transition experience not only in the region but also within the EU. We argue that the ECE states have experienced three types of challenges when promoting their transition experience. First, uploading to the EU level remained largely at a rhetorical level. Second, there are conceptual and practical difficulties in defining what constitutes transition experience and harnessing it, as well as coordinating its transfer between the ECE states. Finally, while using transition experience as the basis for their development assistance strategies, the ECE countries actually insufficiently conceptualised the 'development' aspect in these policies. Being so driven by their own experience, they have not drawn the lessons from enlargement to use in a non-accession context, especially by incorporating the broader lessons with regard to development.
The contribution assesses the performance of the EU economy in 2014. By analyzing data on economi... more The contribution assesses the performance of the EU economy in 2014. By analyzing data on economic growth, unemployment, inflation, government finances and the external balance, it argues that 2014 was not the year of the long-awaited recovery. Despite a generally accommodative global context, growth in the EU was slow, although with considerable variation across member states. The contribution also provides a brief analysis of income convergence among EU member states between 2004 and 2014. The data by and large support the convergence hypotheses, as many less developed Member States grew faster than the more advanced EU economies. However, some countries, especially Greece, and to a lesser extent Italy, Portugal and Hungary seem to have lost momentum.
This article examines how non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) balance their moral ... more This article examines how non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) balance their moral and organisational/financial incentives in the case of the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF). The EUTF was created in 2015 to support the European Union's (EU's) migration policy by addressing the 'root causes' of migration in Africa. The article analyses how NGDOs have reacted to the EUTF using qualitative textual analysis of publications and press releases, and finds that NGDOs have been highly critical of the EUTF's underlying narrative, goals and implementation. Their positions align closely with the stated moral vision of supporting and empowering the global poor. Despite this critical position, many NGDOs have benefitted financially from the EUTF as project implementers. Regression analysis on the determinants of NGDO participation in EUTF projects reveals that NGDOs have largely avoided the more controversial migration management projects of the EUTF, and have focused mostly on projects that build resilience in local communities and support improving the lives and the rights of the poor in Africa. The case of the EUTF shows that NGDOs mostly practise what they preach, and while they did not abstain from the EUTF, they did not allow their financial incentives to fully dictate their actions either.
European non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs) have used naming and shaming extensiv... more European non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs) have used naming and shaming extensively in their advocacy to push the EU and member state governments to implement international norms on foreign aid. The paper analyses the contents of NGDO advocacy publications, with the goal of gaining insight into how and why these organisations engage in naming and shaming. The exercise reveals that NGDOs are highly selective in the norms they promote through naming and shaming: they shame governments heavily for not implementing norms on aid quantity, but are less vocal on norms related to aid effectiveness. The paper shows that NGDOs strategically select norms in their naming shaming activities which have higher resonance with the public and are less costly to monitor, criteria which aid quantity norms fulfil. There is also some evidence that NGDOs promote increasing the quantity of aid because it would enhance their own access to donor funding.
The paper analyses why asylum seekers choose Hungary as an entry point to the European Union. Amo... more The paper analyses why asylum seekers choose Hungary as an entry point to the European Union. Among the Central and Eastern European countries Hungary has been by far the most popular choice for asylum seekers between 2002 and 2016, yet surprisingly, it has been neglected by the literature. Using a panel dataset and fixed effects regressions, the paper finds that beyond being 'conveniently' located on the Balkans migration route, variables related to Hungary's immigration policy are the most significant determinants of asylum seeker choices. The paper finds no evidence to support recent claims by the Hungarian government that arrivals to the country are actually economic migrants and not asylum seekers; quite the contrary, the results indicate that on average asylum seekers entering Hungary are fleeing violent conflict in their countries of origin.
Motivation: The paper examines the advocacy strategies used by European non-governmental developm... more Motivation: The paper examines the advocacy strategies used by European non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs). The literature on development aid has not put much emphasis on understanding the aid-related advocacy strategies of NGDOs, and the literature on interest groups has so far paid little attention to explaining why these select different advocacy strategies within the same policy area. Purpose: The paper aims to explain how NGDOs have selected advocacy strategies during the process of reformulating the European Consensus in 2016/17, in response to the European Union’s attempts to divert aid from poverty reduction to three other goals: managing migration, funding climate change adaptation, and funding the private sector. Approach and methods: Using insights from the interest group and social movements literatures, the paper develops a framework explaining NGDO strategy selection, looking at the politicization of the policy change, its impact on NGDOs’ funding, and its relation to the groups’ normative positions. The paper uses qualitative data from NGDO documents and interviews with senior staff and advocacy officers of NGDO networks based in Brussels. Findings: NGDOs used very different strategies for the three cases of aid diversion: they contested aid diversion for managing migration; mainly choose fence-sitting in case of climate change adaptation; and gradually became more adaptive towards diverting aid to fund the private sector. The paper shows that the three variables of politicization, impact on funding, and relation to normative positions explain the strategies selected by NGDOs in all three cases. Policy implications: The findings can help NGDOs in selecting the most appropriate advocacy strategies for changes in aid policy, and can thus become more effective in influencing the EU institutions and member state governments.
The Central and Eastern European (CEE) EU member states have emerged as new donors of internation... more The Central and Eastern European (CEE) EU member states have emerged as new donors of international development assistance after the turn of the Millennium. The literature has tended to focus on the bilateral components of these policies, and neglected CEE multilateral aid. The paper contributes to filling this gap by examining how and why the CEE donors contribute to trust funds operated by multilateral donors. The aim of the paper is twofold: first, it provides a descriptive account of how the CEE countries use trust funds in the allocation of their foreign aid. Second, it explains this allocation using data from qualitative interviews with CEE officials. The CEE countries make much lower use of trust funds than could be expected. This is not only due to the loss of visibility and control over their resources, but also to how CEE companies and NGOs rarely achieve funding successes at multilateral organizations.
The paper examines the democracy aid practices of the Czech Republic and Poland in Georgia. These... more The paper examines the democracy aid practices of the Czech Republic and Poland in Georgia. These two countries have recently emerged as promoters of democracy, and have argued that their own transition experience puts them in a unique position to support democratization and the consolidation of democracy in the EU's Eastern Neighbourhood. The paper evaluates how these two countries provide democracy aid to Georgia along three criteria, derived from the aid effectiveness literature: supporting locally driven change, learning from results and coordination. The results indicate that both countries have plenty of space to improve the way their democracy aid is delivered. Neither country has formal systems in place to ensure that they actually support Georgian priorities; evaluations are ad hoc and feedback loops missing; and there is significant scope to improve coordination with other donors. Nonetheless, there seems to be a general perception among stakeholders that the democracy aid provided by the Czech Republic and Poland is relevant to Georgia's needs.
Reviewing European Union Accession. Unexpected Results, Spillover Effects, and Externalities
It is now more than ten years since the states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) moved from rec... more It is now more than ten years since the states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) moved from recipients of development aid to donors of development aid. The chapter shows that in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia there has been an increase in aid levels and the creation of legal and administrative structures for development policy. The states under study have clear priority areas for their bilateral aid, focusing on the Eastern Neighborhood and areas of strategic interest. Overall, the chapter argues that a combination of low EU priority, soft law, and lack of political drivers in the accession states created weak foundations for development policy that have had a long lasting legacy. International recognition of the status of being a donor via membership of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) for some states does little to mask the weaknesses, and more work needs to be done to provide the policy with firm political foundations.
Europe’s slow recovery after its double-dip crisis continued in 2016, with the continent’s growth... more Europe’s slow recovery after its double-dip crisis continued in 2016, with the continent’s growth rate reaching 1.8 per cent. While by no means a spectacular pace, it fits into the broader pattern of the previous two years, and given the weak performance of the global economy, as well as mounting geopolitical uncertainties, it is not to be underestimated. The recovery, mainly driven by consumption and renewed investment, has had a strong impact on labour markets, with unemployment rates across the continent decreasing for the third year in a row. Inflation, heavily subdued in 2015 and bordering on deflation, picked up. Government balances continued to improve and average public debt edged slightly downwards. The legacies of the crisis, however, are still holding Europe back.
Condemned to be left behind ? Can Central and Eastern Europe emerge from its low-wage model ?, 2017
The paper analyzes the challenges that investment promotion policies face in the Visegrad 4 (V4) ... more The paper analyzes the challenges that investment promotion policies face in the Visegrad 4 (V4) countries in the “post-FDI” age. It categorises these challenges into three groups (the changing competitive advantages of the V4; the questionable long- term development impacts of FDI; and the changing nature of multinational production), and argues that investment promotion and other policies in the region have thus far only partially responded to these. The paper recommends a number of policy options for V4 governments which canto ensure that these countries not only remain favourable locations for international business, but also benefit from the presence of foreign companies. A number of these measures go beyond traditional investment promotion policies, and thus require a holistic approach from governments.
Democratization in EU Foreign Policy: New member states as drivers of democracy promotion by Benedetta Berti (Editor), Kristina Mikulova (Editor), Nicu Popescu (Editor) , 2015
The chapter analyses CEE international development policies, focusing on the impact of these coun... more The chapter analyses CEE international development policies, focusing on the impact of these countries’ ‘transition experience’ on policy preferences. Using discourse analysis of official documents, the chapter asserts that transition experience is seen as a unique comparative advantage for CEE countries, and it has emerged as the constituting narrative of their donor identities. In turn, this explains why CEE development policies emphasise the support of democratisation and democratic consolidation in recipient countries. However, there are some potentially problematic side-effects: using transition experience also implies a technical understanding of democracy and, in essence, it de-politicises democracy aid by promising technical solutions to problems which are essentially political.
In this paper we explore the implications of Brexit for the UK and the EU's development policies ... more In this paper we explore the implications of Brexit for the UK and the EU's development policies and strategic directions, focussing on the former. While it is likely that the operational process of disentangling the UK from the various development institutions of the EU will be relatively straight‐forward, the choices that lie ahead about whether and how to cooperate thereafter are more complex. Aid and development policy touches on a wide range of interests – security, trade, climate change, migration, gender rights and so on. We argue that Brexit will accelerate existing trends within UK development policy, notably towards the growing priority of private sector‐led economic growth strategies and blended finance tools. There are strong signals that UK aid will be cut, as successive Secretaries of State appear unable to persuade a substantial section of the public and media that UK aid and development policy serves UK interests in a variety of ways.
The accession of the East-Central European (ECE) countries carried a promise of enhancing and enr... more The accession of the East-Central European (ECE) countries carried a promise of enhancing and enriching the EU's Eastern policy. The new member states had the strongest interests among EU member states to ensure that countries in the East are prosperous, stable and democratic. Yet, EU's Eastern policy has been largely criticised for its ineffectiveness. So why have they not been able to address the shortcomings in the EU's Eastern policies? The article argues that the ECE countries supported the way the EU's Eastern policies were conceived and implemented because they saw it as a potent vehicle to promote their own transition experience not only in the region but also within the EU. We argue that the ECE states have experienced three types of challenges when promoting their transition experience. First, uploading to the EU level remained largely at a rhetorical level. Second, there are conceptual and practical difficulties in defining what constitutes transition experience and harnessing it, as well as coordinating its transfer between the ECE states. Finally, while using transition experience as the basis for their development assistance strategies, the ECE countries actually insufficiently conceptualised the 'development' aspect in these policies. Being so driven by their own experience, they have not drawn the lessons from enlargement to use in a non-accession context, especially by incorporating the broader lessons with regard to development.
The contribution assesses the performance of the EU economy in 2014. By analyzing data on economi... more The contribution assesses the performance of the EU economy in 2014. By analyzing data on economic growth, unemployment, inflation, government finances and the external balance, it argues that 2014 was not the year of the long-awaited recovery. Despite a generally accommodative global context, growth in the EU was slow, although with considerable variation across member states. The contribution also provides a brief analysis of income convergence among EU member states between 2004 and 2014. The data by and large support the convergence hypotheses, as many less developed Member States grew faster than the more advanced EU economies. However, some countries, especially Greece, and to a lesser extent Italy, Portugal and Hungary seem to have lost momentum.
This book examines how foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Central and Eastern Europe have... more This book examines how foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Central and Eastern Europe have changed after the Great Recession. It argues that beyond their cyclical effects, the economic crisis and the changing competitiveness of Central and Eastern European countries have had structural impacts on FDI in the region. FDI has traditionally been viewed as the key driver of national development, but the apparent structural shift means that focusing on cheap labour as a competitive advantage is no longer a viable strategy for the countries in the region. The authors argue that these countries need to move beyond the narrative of upgrading (attracting FDI inflows with increasingly higher value added), and focus on ensuring greater value capture instead. A potential way for doing this is by developing the conditions in which innovative national companies can emerge, thrive and eventually develop into lead firms of global value chains. The book provides readers with a highly informative account of the reasons why this shift is necessary, as well as diverse perspectives and extensive discussions on the dynamics and structural impacts of FDI in post-crisis Central and Eastern Europe.
This book examines the international development policies of five East Central European new EU me... more This book examines the international development policies of five East Central European new EU member states, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. These countries turned from being aid recipients to donors after the turn of the millennium in the run-up to EU accession in 2004. The book explains the evolution subsequent to EU accession and current state of foreign aid policies in the region and the reasons why these deviate from many of the internationally agreed best practices in development cooperation. It argues that after the turn of the millennium, a 'Global Consensus' has emerged on how to make foreign aid more effective for development. A comparison between the elements of the Global Consensus and the performance of the five countries reveals that while they have generally implemented little of these recommendations, there are also emerging differences between the countries, with the Czech Republic and Slovenia clearly aspiring to become globally responsible donors. Building on the literatures on foreign policy analysis, international socialization and interest group influence, the book develops a model of foreign aid policy making in order to explain the general reluctance of the five countries in implementing international best practices, and also the differences in their relative performance.
Negotiations leading to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have dominated the diplomacy of ... more Negotiations leading to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have dominated the diplomacy of global development in the past years. The paper looks at the actions and motivations of a relatively new development actor, Hungary, which co-chaired the UN General Assembly's Open Working Group on SDGs, and thus had a highly visible position during the talks. Hungary had a key priority of having an SDG on water related issues, driven mainly by its perceived comparative advantage in the sector. Using the insights of the literature on small state influence in multilateral negotiations, the paper argues that Hungarian diplomats used alliance building as well as reputational and framing strategies to counter the structural disadvantages of the country's small state status, and were successful in shaping the final outcome. However, the Hungarian government did not act out of a strong commitment to sustainable global development, but rather used the forum to brand itself as an expert on water issues, with the hope of future business benefits. We are grateful to the participants for their feedback. We would also like to thank Mark Furness and Niels Keijzer, and three anonymous referees for their helpful and instructive comments on earlier drafts. All errors remain our own.
The EU's democracy promotion activities have been increasingly challenged in the past decade, by ... more The EU's democracy promotion activities have been increasingly challenged in the past decade, by both internal and external factors. The rise of illiberalism in some EU member states, especially Hungary and Poland, have eroded the EU's pro-democracy credentials, and Russia's successful externalisation of its own illiberal governance to countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia means that the EU needs to work with local elites who face conflicting incentives. Systematically taking stock of what the EU has managed to achieve in this increasingly uphill struggle is the key value which this book brings to the debate, and at a very opportune moment.
Uploads
Papers by Balazs Szent-Ivanyi
Purpose: The paper aims to explain how NGDOs have selected advocacy strategies during the process of reformulating the European Consensus in 2016/17, in response to the European Union’s attempts to divert aid from poverty reduction to three other goals: managing migration, funding climate change adaptation, and funding the private sector.
Approach and methods: Using insights from the interest group and social movements literatures, the paper develops a framework explaining NGDO strategy selection, looking at the politicization of the policy change, its impact on NGDOs’ funding, and its relation to the groups’ normative positions. The paper uses qualitative data from NGDO documents and interviews with senior staff and advocacy officers of NGDO networks based in Brussels.
Findings: NGDOs used very different strategies for the three cases of aid diversion: they contested aid diversion for managing migration; mainly choose fence-sitting in case of climate change adaptation; and gradually became more adaptive towards diverting aid to fund the private sector. The paper shows that the three variables of politicization, impact on funding, and relation to normative positions explain the strategies selected by NGDOs in all three cases.
Policy implications: The findings can help NGDOs in selecting the most appropriate advocacy strategies for changes in aid policy, and can thus become more effective in influencing the EU institutions and member state governments.
well as mounting geopolitical uncertainties, it is not to be underestimated. The recovery, mainly driven by consumption and renewed investment, has had a strong impact on labour markets,
with unemployment rates across the continent decreasing for the third year in a row. Inflation, heavily subdued in 2015 and bordering on deflation, picked up. Government balances continued to improve and average public debt edged slightly downwards. The legacies of the crisis, however, are still holding Europe back.
Purpose: The paper aims to explain how NGDOs have selected advocacy strategies during the process of reformulating the European Consensus in 2016/17, in response to the European Union’s attempts to divert aid from poverty reduction to three other goals: managing migration, funding climate change adaptation, and funding the private sector.
Approach and methods: Using insights from the interest group and social movements literatures, the paper develops a framework explaining NGDO strategy selection, looking at the politicization of the policy change, its impact on NGDOs’ funding, and its relation to the groups’ normative positions. The paper uses qualitative data from NGDO documents and interviews with senior staff and advocacy officers of NGDO networks based in Brussels.
Findings: NGDOs used very different strategies for the three cases of aid diversion: they contested aid diversion for managing migration; mainly choose fence-sitting in case of climate change adaptation; and gradually became more adaptive towards diverting aid to fund the private sector. The paper shows that the three variables of politicization, impact on funding, and relation to normative positions explain the strategies selected by NGDOs in all three cases.
Policy implications: The findings can help NGDOs in selecting the most appropriate advocacy strategies for changes in aid policy, and can thus become more effective in influencing the EU institutions and member state governments.
well as mounting geopolitical uncertainties, it is not to be underestimated. The recovery, mainly driven by consumption and renewed investment, has had a strong impact on labour markets,
with unemployment rates across the continent decreasing for the third year in a row. Inflation, heavily subdued in 2015 and bordering on deflation, picked up. Government balances continued to improve and average public debt edged slightly downwards. The legacies of the crisis, however, are still holding Europe back.