The United States has viewed promoting democracy as a longstanding tenet of its foreign policy. This has manifested itself in many ways, including in its foreign aid projects. This thesis sought to better understand what the U.S. did in promoting democracy through its foreign aid. Specifically, it what the U.S. did with its democracy and governance aid to Kenya from 1993 through 2008. It reviewed the scholarly literature to identify recommended best practices and evaluate the evidence supporting the effectiveness of aid. Having determined what projects were better to support than others, I reviewed documents available from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and assessed what types of projects the U.S. supported. This thesis also reviewed other project data available from USAID to ensure a full picture of U.S. democracy and governance aid to Kenya. Additionally, this thesis reviewed additional outside assessments of Kenya to provide full context for the U.S. aid efforts there. My research identified three clear trends in U.S. aid to Kenya. First, democracy promotion was a tenet in many USAID projects even beyond those specifically intended to promote democracy. Second, USAID's projects largely conformed to the best practices of the literature. Third, there was a significant increase in aid to Kenya starting in 2001 that largely predated the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This provides a basis for further research into the effectiveness of U.S. democracy aid to Kenya. / Master of Arts / This thesis examined how the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) promoted democracy in Kenya from 1993 through 2008. The promotion of democracy has been a standing goal of U.S. foreign policy for decades, this thesis reviewed the history of U.S. democracy promotion, discussed the theories underlying U.S. democracy promotion efforts and identified best practices from academic and other literature. Having determined best practices, this thesis then examined U.S. democracy promotion efforts in Kenya from 1993 through 2008 to assess what the U.S. did and whether it comported with the recommendations from the literature. This research identified three trends in U.S. aid to Kenya. Democracy promotion was a tenet in many USAID projects even beyond those specifically intended to promote democracy; USAID's projects largely conformed to the best practices of the literature; and there was a significant increase in aid to Kenya starting in 2001 that largely predated the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.This research provides a basis to assess USAID democracy promotion efforts in other times and countries and will enable research into the effectiveness of U.S. democracy promotion efforts in Kenya.

Previous research has found that nonviolent campaigns are conducive for democratization, but variation in democratic outcomes still remains a puzzle. I address this research gap by analyzing whether democracy assistance that promotes political participation, civic political culture, and enabling environment for civil society before and during nonviolent campaigns can help explain why some countries democratize after regime changes initiated by nonviolent campaigns while other countries do not. I argue that sustained democracy assistance help maintain mass mobilization and build democratic institutions after the old regime has been removed. By using the method of structured focused comparison, I investigate based on data from USAID and OECD what kind of democracy assistance Tunisia and Egypt received before and during their nonviolent campaigns. I find that neither Tunisia nor Egypt to any great extent received the kind of sustained democracy assistance I hypothesized could impact democratization. I therefore conclude that it seems unlikely that democracy assistance had the kind of significant impact that could explain the different outcomes in Tunisia and Egypt. Lastly, I discuss how research on nonviolent campaigns could inform policymaking and contribute to designing more strategic democracy assistance in the future.

The goal of this thesis is to assess the usefulness of study visits organised by Czech civil society organisations as a form of international cooperation in the period 2006 - 2010 and to map out the possibilities for making study visits for Belarusian participants in the Czech Republic more effective. An additional goal of this study is to identify potential opportunities for increasing the impact of study visits and long-term cooperation with the Belarusian non- governmental sector. This thesis also describes the phenomena of democracy assistance the whole and its positive and negative aspects in Belarus. Besides that, this paper focuses on the notion of democracy assistance in the context of the Czech Republic. Key words: democracy assistance, transition promotion, civil society, Belarus, study visits

This dissertation contributes to an increased understanding of democracy promotion. Empirically, the study focuses on the multi-faced democratisation process in Macedonia; the official Swedish policy for democracy promotion; and actual Swedish attempts to promote democracy in Macedonia in the period 2000–2006. Theoretically, the study advances an analytical framework, which serves to bring clarity to democracy promotion as a concept. It is argued that democracy promotion embodies six structural components, and should be understood as activities adopted and/or supported by foreign actors, as part of a relationship between the democracy promoter and the recipient country, based on a set of motives and shaped through the use of different strategies, methods and channels. Moreover, the issue of impact is investigated. The analytical framework is used to investigate the character of Swedish democracy promotion, and to develop a typology of the roles of democracy promotion in democratisation processes. It is argued that the Swedish policy for democracy promotion is permeated by a Swedish democratic self-image, eclectic theoretical reflection, and flexibility. In addition, it is argued that Sweden is primarily driven by altruistic and ideological motives, and acts to promote legal and societal democracy, and that the allocation of democracy promotion resources is based on theoretical as well as practical considerations. Macedonia’s democratisation process is analysed, and on the basis of the Swedish attempts to promote democracy in Macedonia, the study advances a typology of the roles of democracy promotion in democratisation processes, these being: educator, initiator, and supporter. Together with the analytical framework, this role typology provides new possibilities to study, and understand, democracy promotion. / Denna avhandling bidrar till ökad förståelse av demokratifrämjande aktiviteter. Empiriskt fokuserar studien på den flerdimensionella demokratiseringsprocessen i Makedonien, den officiella svenska policyn för demokratifrämjande aktiviteter, och de faktiska svenska försöken att främja demokratiutvecklingen i Makedonien under perioden 2000-2006. Teoretiskt bidrar studien med ett analytiskt ramverk, som ämnar ge ökad insikt om demokratifrämjande aktiviteter som begrepp. Det hävdas att dessa aktiviteter är uppbyggda av sex beståndsdelar, och bör förstås som aktiviteter verkställda eller understödda av utländska aktörer, som del av en relation mellan den demokratifrämjande aktören och mottagande land, baserat på en uppsättning motiv och format genom olika strategier, metoder, och kanaler. Betydelsen av effekt inkluderas även i studien. Det analytiska ramverket används för att undersöka den svenska policyn för demokratifrämjande aktiviteter, samt för att utveckla en typologi av de roller som sådana aktiviteter har i demokratiseringsprocesser. Studien visar att den svenska policyn för demokratifrämjande aktiviteter är genomsyrad av en svensk demokratisk självbild, eklektisk teoretisk resonerande, samt pragmatism. Studien visar även att Sverige som demokratifrämjare primärt driva av altruistiska och ideologiska motiv, och strävar efter att främja etableringen av en konstitutionell och samhällelig demokrati, samt att fördelning av demokratifrämjande resurser görs utifrån teoretiska såväl som praktiska överväganden. Makedoniens demokratiseringsprocess analyseras, och med utgångspunkt i de svenska försöken att främja demokratiutvecklingen i Makedonien utvecklas en typologi över de roller som demokratifrämjande aktiviteter kan ha i demokratiseringsprocesser, nämligen: pedagog, initierare, och understödjare. Tillsammans med det analytiska ramverket, skapar denna roll typologi nya möjligheter att studera, och förstå, demokratifrämjande aktiviteter.

The dissertation documented the degree of Turkey’s involvement in the promotion of democracy in the Arab Middle East (ME). Initially, I investigated why and under what conditions Turkey promotes democracy in the ME, and then I explained strategies through which Turkey promotes democracy in the region. I applied the neo-classical realist theoretical framework and a mixed methodology in the research, and I provided evidence from two sources: face-to-face interviews with the Turkish and foreign officials and common citizens, and the statistical data from institutions, such as the OECD, Turkish Statistical Institute, and World Bank. My research indicates that Turkey promotes democracy through seven channels. These channels are official development assistance (ODA), mentoring, demonstrative effect, normative pressure, conditionality, military power, enlargement, and civil society organizations. Turkey promotes democracy in the ME for three substantial reasons: first, to advance its security and economic interests; second, to improve the political, social, and economic conditions of people living in the region; and third, to create long-term regional stability, crucial for cooperation in economic and security realms. I attempted to engage in debates with two distinct, but interrelated fields of comparative politics and international relations. My most important contribution to the field is that I documented Turkey’s case of democracy promotion regarding the degree of Turkey’s involvement in this endeavor, its strategies, specificities, and effectiveness in the region. I also contribute to the field as I explained the difference between democracy promotion policies of a regional power, such as Turkey, and global powers, such as the US. I further engaged in discussions that illuminate some aspects of the interplay between the identity and strategic interests in states’ foreign policy decisions.

The international community has long sent democracy aid, and technical election assistance (TEA) has become increasingly popular in the last three decades. Despite these investments, little is known about the effects of TEA. This master thesis focuses on how TEA affects violence during elections and asks if and how does technical election assistance prevent electoral violence in some contexts and not in others? I argue the TEA that is provided to both state and non-state actors in combination can reduce electoral violence. I argue that this can make elections credible and that credible elections are less probable to turn violent. By conducting case studies on Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe using Structured Focused Comparison, this thesis finds that the hypothesis when a state receives comprehensive technical election assistance, it will experience a reduction in electoral violence gets limited support. The findings show that TEA can help reduce violence since violence was reduced in all three cases, but only two of them received comprehensive TEA.

Democracy assistance aims to encourage democratization process or solidify already existing democratic system in a foreign country. The strategy that should accomplish such goal differs according to donor country. Similarly, there are differences between Czech and American democracy assistance approaches. Diploma thesis Czech and American democracy assistance: the case study of Myanmar examines contrasts between Czech and American democracy promotion in Myanmar within the period of major political changes. The Asian country underwent transformation starting in 2011 when military junta passed several reforms, opened up a dialog with political opposition and arranged partly free parliamentary elections in 2015. The thesis focuses on Czech and American assistance and its evolution from the prerevolution period starting in 2007, through the peak of reform changes, up to NLD winning the majority of parliamentary seats and their governance in 2018. Czech democracy assistance appears to be characterized by their focus on civil society activization and bottom-up approach. On the contrary, the United States stress more than Czech assistance projects marked with political approach, thus securing free and fair election processes and other functioning democratic institutions. The case study of Myanmar and...

The United States of America and the institutions of the European Union are the most prominent democracy assistance donors in third countries. Over the last two decades, they have spent tens of billions of dollars to support the formation and consolidation of democratic regimes around the world. In this sense, the US and the EU have seemingly shared interests - i.e. seeking to build democratic institutions in target countries so that these become part of the community of democracies and contribute to the stability of the world's economic and political system. However, if we look at the approaches and strategies used by the US and the EU to support democracy, we find that they are often quite different and, in some respects, clashing. Why are the approaches of both actors different if they strive to reach the same goal? Or - upon closer examination - are their goals indeed somewhat different? The key problem is that democracy as such is a contested concept, so it is necessary to ask the question: if we are promoting democracy, what kind of democracy do we mean? If we finance the development of one or the other institution, what model of democratic establishment will be created? The thesis takes a constructivist view of this issue and demonstrates how the different democratic identities of the two...