This paper critically examines the principal instruments employed by the European Union to promote good governance in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) through development cooperation. The main research question is: To what extent do the EU’s development cooperation instruments contribute to good governance promotion in Sub-Saharan Africa? To address this question, the paper begins with a brief overview of EU-SSA relations from a historical perspective. It then reviews the various financial and political development cooperation instruments utilized by the EU to promote good governance in SSA. Next, by analyzing relevant data on EU governance aid towards SSA, the paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the characteristics of EU governance aid policies in the region in order to unpack their merits and limits. Finally, the paper critically analyzes the underlining factors behind the mixed outcomes of the EU’s good governance promotion instruments using policy documents, academic articles and various data sources.
AcutoM. (2008). Wilson victorious? Understanding democracy promotion in the midst of a “backlash”. Alternatives, 33(4), 461–480. https://doi.org/10.1177/030437540803300404
2.
AndersonB. S. (2008). Crafting EU security policy: In pursuit of a European identity. Lynne Rienner.
3.
BaderJ.GrävingholtJ.KastnerA. (2010). Would autocracies promote autocracy? A political economy perspective on regime-type export in regional neighbourhoods. Contemporary Politics, 16(1), 81–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569771003593904
4.
BjornskouvC.KrivonosE. (2001). From Lomé to Cotonou: The new EU- ACP agreement. In Danish Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Economics (SJFI) Working Paper No.14.
5.
BonoG. (2012). The impact of the discourse of the “politics of protection”: The case of the EU and UN policing and military missions to Chad (2007–2010). African Security, 5(3–4), 179–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392206.2012.732889
6.
BörzelT. A.HackeneschC. (2013). Small carrots, few sticks: EU good governance promotion in sub-Saharan Africa. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 26(3), 536–555. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2013.807424
7.
BörzelT. A.PamukY.StahnA.( 2008). Good governance in the European Union. In Berlin Working Paper on European Integration No. 7.
8.
BörzelT. A.van HüllenV. (2014). One voice, one message, but conflicting goals: Cohesiveness and consistency in the European Neighbourhood Policy. Journal of European Public Policy, 21(7), 1033–1049. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2014.912147
9.
BountagkidisG.FragkosK.FrangosC. C.(2015). EU development aid towards sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the normative principle, Social Science, 4(1), 85–116; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci4010085
10.
BrattonM.van de WalleN. (1997). Democratic experiments in Africa: Regime transitions in comparative perspective. Cambridge University Press.
11.
BräutigamD. A.KnackS. (2004). Foreign aid, institutions, and governance in sub Saharan Africa. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 52(2), 255–285. https://doi.org/10.1086/380592
12.
BurnellP. (2000). Democracy assistance: International Co-operation for democratization. Frank Cass.
CarboneM. (2005). The role of civil society in the Cotonou agreement. In BabarindeO.FaberG. (Eds.), The European Union and the developing countries: The Cotonou agreement (pp. 177–195): Martinus Nijhoff.
15.
CarboneM. (2013). Rethinking Acp-Eu relations after Cotonou : Tensions, contradictions, prospects. Journal of International Development, 25(5), 742–756. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.2929
DavidssonS. (2020). Modeling the impact of a model: The (non)relationship between China's economic rise and African democracy,Politics & Policy48(5), 859–886, https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12375
19.
Del BiondoK. (2009). The weaknesses of political conditionality in EU development policy: The case of Zimbabwe. Studia Diplomatica, 62(2), 121–137. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44838669
20.
DelcourL.WolczukK. (2015). The EU’s unexpected ‘ideal neighbour’? The perplexing case of Armenia’s Europeanisation. Journal of European Integration, 37(4), 491–507. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2015.1004631
21.
DiamondL. (2008). The democratic rollback: The resurgence of the predatory state. Foreign Affairs, 87(2), 36–48. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20032579
22.
DipamaS.DalE. P. (2015). The effectiveness of political conditionality as an instrument of democracy promotion by the EU: Case studies of Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast and Niger. Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, 20(1), 109–132.
23.
DonnoD.NeureiterM. (2018). Can human rights conditionality reduce repression? Examining the European union's economic agreements. Review of Industrial Organization, 13(3), 335–357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11558-017-9283-2
24.
EasterlyW.(2000). The effect of IMF and World Bank programs on poverty.
European Center for Development Policy Management-ECDPM (2008). The Cotonou partnership agreement: What role in a changing world? ECDPM Report No 13. ECDPM. (Maastricht: ECDPM).
27.
European Commission. (1998). Commission Communication to the Council: Democratisation, the rule of law, respect for human rights and good governance: The challenges of the partnership between the European Union and the ACP states.
28.
European Commission. (2001). European governance: A white paper. COM(2001) 428 final.
29.
European Commission. (2005). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee on the EU Strategy for Africa: Towards a Euro-African Pact to Accelerate Africa’s Development. European Commission.
European Commission. (2017). The new European consensus on development. European Commissionr.
32.
European Commission. (2021). European Commission welcomes the endorsement of the new €79.5 billion NDICI-Global Europe instrument to support the EU's external action. CommissionPress Release,19 march, Available at:https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_1267
33.
European Council. (2003). A secure Europe in a better world: European security strategy.
34.
European Parliament News. (2020). Parliament approves the “rule of law conditionality” for access to EU funds. Press Release.
35.
European Union. (2006). The European consensus on development. European Union.
36.
FarrellM. (2020). Bridging the gap between EU, Mediterranean and Africa relations : Partnership, governance and (Re)-evolving relations. L'Europe en Formation, n° 356(2), 169–191. https://doi.org/10.3917/eufor.356.0169
37.
FisherJ.AndersonD. M. (2015). Authoritarianism and the securitizationof development in Africa. International Affairs, 91(1), 131–151. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12190
38.
FurnessM., et al. (2020). Introduction EU development policy: Evolving as an instrument of foreign policy and as an expression of solidarity. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 16(2), 89–100. https://doi.org/10.30950/jcer.v16i2.1156
39.
FurnessM.GänzleS. (2016). The European union’s development policy: A balancing act between ‘a more comprehensive approach’ and creeping securitization. In BrownS.GrävingholtJ. (Eds.), The securitization of foreign aid. Rethinking international development series. Palgrave Macmillan. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-56882-3_7
40.
FusterT. (1998). Die “Good Governance” Diskussion der Jahre 1989 bis 1994: Ein Beitrag zur jüngeren Geschichte der Entwicklungspolitik unter spezieller Berücksichtigung der Weltbank und des DAC (The “Good Governance” discussion from 1989 to 1994: A contribution to the recent history of development policy with special reference to the World Bank and the DAC).
41.
GänzleS. (2009). Coping with the ‘security-development nexus’: The European Community’s instrument for stability – rationale and potential (Studies 47). German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik. (DIE).
GrimmS.HackeneschC. (2017). China in Africa: What challenges for a reforming European Union development policy? Illustrations from country cases. Development Policy Review, 35(4), 549–566. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12195
HackeneschC. (2018). The initial puzzle: Why governments in dominant party systems engage with the EU on good governance reform, or not. In HackeneschC. (Ed.), The EU and China in african authoritarian regimes domestic politics and governance reforms (pp. 21–47). Palgrave Macmillan.
46.
HalperS. (2010). The Beijing Consensus : How China's authoritarian model will dominate the twenty-first century (p. 312): Basic Books.
47.
HollandM. (2017). The EU and the global development agenda. Routledge.
48.
HughesJ.SasseG.GordonC. (2004). Europeanization and regionalization in the EU's enlargement to central and eastern Europe - The myth of conditionality. Palgrave Macmillian.
49.
KeukliereS.TomD. (2014). The foreign policy of the European Union (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
50.
KlasenS. (2003). What can Africa learn from Asian development successes and failures?Review of Income and Wealth, 49(3), 441–451. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4991.00098
51.
KnackS. (2001). Aid dependence and the quality of governance: Cross-country empirical tests. Southern Economic Journal, 68(2), 310–329. https://doi.org/10.2307/1061596
KurkiM. (2010). Democracy and conceptual contestability: Reconsidering conceptions of democracy in democracy promotion. International Studies Review, 12(3), 362–386. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2486.2010.00943.x
54.
LanganM. (2012). Normative power Europe and the moral economy of Africa–EU ties: A conceptual reorientation of ‘normative power. New Political Economy, 17(3), 243–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2011.562975
55.
LiH. (2015). The Chinese model of development and its implications. World Journal of Social Science Research,2(2), 128-138. https://doi.org/10.22158/wjssr.v2n2p128
56.
MannersI. (2002). Normative power Europe: A contradiction in terms?Journal of Common Market Studies, 40(2), 235–258. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5965.00353
57.
MkandiwireT.SoludoC. (1999). Our continent, our future: African perspectives on structural adjustment. In CODESIRA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa), Dakar, Senegal/Africa World Press.
58.
MosleyP.HarrıganJ.ToyeJ. (1995). Aid and power: The World Bank and policy based lending (2nd ed.). Routledge.
59.
MurphyE. C. (2002). Good governance: Ein universal anwendbares Konzept? (Good governance: A universally applicable concept?). Internationale Politik, 57(8), 1–9.
60.
NeumayerE. (2003). The pattern of aid giving. The impact of good governance on development assistance. Routledge.
61.
New York Times. (2007). The short, sad history of Chad’s “model” oil project. New York Times.
62.
OrbieJ. (2003). EU development policy integration and the monterrey process : A leading and benevolent identity ?’. European Foreign Affairs Review, 8(Issue 3), 395–415. https://doi.org/10.54648/eerr2003026
63.
OrbieJ.MartensD.OehriM.Van den PutteL. (2016). Promoting sustainable development or legitimising free trade? Civil society mechanisms in EU trade agreements. Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 1(4), 526–546. https://doi.org/10.1080/23802014.2016.1294032
64.
Parlar DalE.DipamaS. (2022). Assessing the EU’s and Turkey’s Triangular Development Cooperation partnership in the sub-Saharan Africa. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 47(4), 209–234. https://doi.org/10.1177/03043754221135411
65.
PeggS. (2009). Briefing: Chronicle of a death foretold: The collapse of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project. African Affairs, 108(431), 311–320. https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adp003
66.
PortelaC. (2010). European Union sanctions and foreign policy: When and why do they work?Routledge.
67.
RogersonA. (2005). Aid harmonisation and alignment: Bridging the gaps between reality and the Paris reform agenda. Development Policy Review, 23(5), 531–552. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7679.2005.00301.x
68.
RothS. (2009). Political conditionality in European Union development assistance: Assessing effectiveness and consistency. In MA in advanced European and international studies. Institut Européen des Hautes Etudes Internationales.
69.
RozbickaP.Szent IványiB. (2020). European development NGOs and the diversion of aid: Contestation, fence sitting, or adaptation?Development Policy Review, 38(2), 161–179. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12417
70.
SantisoC. (2003). Sisyphus in the castle: Improving European Union strategies for democracy promotion and governance conditionality. European Journal of Development Research, 15(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/09578810312331287355
71.
ScheipersS.SicurelliD. (2008). Empowering Africa: Normative power in EU-Africa relations. Journal of European Public Policy, 15(4), 607–623. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501760801996774
72.
Seek Development. (2012). Donor profile EU: Global development policy making in the EU. Seek Development.
73.
SmithK. (2009). Has Africa got anything to say ? African contributions to the theoretical development of international relations. Th e Round Table, 98(402), 269–284. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358530902895378
UN Development Program. (1997). Governance for sustainable human development. UNDP policy document.
77.
Unspecified. (1985). ACP-EEC convention Lomé III. The courier, special issue No. 89, January-February. [EU Commission - Brochure].
78.
Unspecified (1996). ‘‘Agreement amending the fourth ACP-EC convention of Lomé, signed on Mauritius on 4 November 1995’’. The courier, [EU Commission - Brochure].
WarkotschA. (2008). Non-compliance and instrumental variation in EU democracy promotion. Journal of European Public Policy, 15(2), 227–245. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501760701817732
81.
WhiteheadL. (2004). Democratization with the benefit of hindsight: The changing international components. In NewmanE.Roland RichR. (Eds.), The UN role in promoting democracy: Between ideals and reality. United Nations University Press.
82.
WilliamsonJ. (1990). What Washington means by policy reform. In WilliamsonJ. (Ed.), Latin American adjustment: How much has happened? (pp. 7–20). Institute for International Economics.
83.
World Bank. (1989). Sub-Saharan Africa: From crisis to sustainable development. World Bank.
84.
World Bank (1992). Governance and development. World Bank report.
ZimelisA. (2011). Conditionality and the EU–ACP partnership : A misguided approach to development?Australian Journal of Political Science, 46(3), 389–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2011.595698
