<p>The first purpose of this study is to examine if democratic aid is a statistically and/or substantially significant determinant of democratic development among semi-democratic states. The second purpose is to discuss the effects of democratic aid in light of the theory of ‘democratic peace’, and the debate on whether exogenous or endogenous factors are primary for democratic development. The research question is: how much, if at all, has democratic aid contributed to democratic development among semi-democratic states from 2000 to 2004?</p><p>The thesis is delimited to observing the total population of states that were semi-democratic in the year 1999, i.e. 56 countries. Moreover, it only detects the potential impact of democratic aid over one five-year period, namely 2000-2004.</p><p>Data from the Freedom House Index (FHI) has been used to distinguish states with semi-democratic regimes from states with other regime-types, and, moreover, to construct two indicators of the dependent variable. The utilized dataset on democratic aid is provided by the Creditor Reporting System (CRS), issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Furthermore, in order to assess the effects of democratic aid, a multiple regression model is employed that controls for nine other variables which have been found to have significant impacts on democratic development in relevant previous research.</p><p>The conclusion is that democratic aid neither had a statistically nor a substantially significant impact on democratic development of semi-democratic states from 2000 to 2004. Thus, it does not strengthen the ‘exogenous standpoint’ for democratic development, and it does not appear to contribute to an expansion of ‘democratic peace’. However, due to a number of factors, it is acknowledged that more research is required in order to assess the effects of democratic aid more adequately.      </p><p> </p>

The first purpose of this study is to examine if democratic aid is a statistically and/or substantially significant determinant of democratic development among semi-democratic states. The second purpose is to discuss the effects of democratic aid in light of the theory of ‘democratic peace’, and the debate on whether exogenous or endogenous factors are primary for democratic development. The research question is: how much, if at all, has democratic aid contributed to democratic development among semi-democratic states from 2000 to 2004? The thesis is delimited to observing the total population of states that were semi-democratic in the year 1999, i.e. 56 countries. Moreover, it only detects the potential impact of democratic aid over one five-year period, namely 2000-2004. Data from the Freedom House Index (FHI) has been used to distinguish states with semi-democratic regimes from states with other regime-types, and, moreover, to construct two indicators of the dependent variable. The utilized dataset on democratic aid is provided by the Creditor Reporting System (CRS), issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Furthermore, in order to assess the effects of democratic aid, a multiple regression model is employed that controls for nine other variables which have been found to have significant impacts on democratic development in relevant previous research. The conclusion is that democratic aid neither had a statistically nor a substantially significant impact on democratic development of semi-democratic states from 2000 to 2004. Thus, it does not strengthen the ‘exogenous standpoint’ for democratic development, and it does not appear to contribute to an expansion of ‘democratic peace’. However, due to a number of factors, it is acknowledged that more research is required in order to assess the effects of democratic aid more adequately.