As democracy promotion has become an increasingly important aspect on the agenda of foreign aid donors, and since such prioritization of funding comes at the expense of other development areas, it is arguably of interest for donors as well as researchers to investigate its actual impact on democratization. This study endeavors to examine the influence of two types of foreign assistance that could potentially contribute to a democratic development, directlythrough democracy support and indirectly through aid focused on education. Four models of regression analysis are applied on a data set of 65 developing countries receiving Official Development Assistance (ODA), during the period of 2006–2018. The findings of this study are inconclusive in determining the influence of these aid types, as the main results show no significant effects on the Freedom House grading of the recipient countries. Yet, when using an alternative measurement, the Democracy Index, directly focused democracy support appears to have a slight positive and significant impact on democratization. These results should however be interpreted with caution due to the risk of reversed causality.

Die Arbeit stellt sich die Frage, inwieweit es externen Akteuren möglich ist, zivilgesellschaftli-che Strukturen eines in der Transformation befindlichen Staates zu stärken, um damit einen Beitrag zur Konsolidierung nachkommunistischer Gesellschaften zu leisten. Resultiert die externe Förderung tatsächlich in eine „zivilere“ Gesellschaft, welche sich auf mündige und aktive Bürger stützt, oder führt sie zu einem bloßen Transfer von Strukturen in Form von Nicht-Regierungsorganisationen (NRO), welche jedoch keine gesellschaftliche Anbindung haben und bloße Zuarbeiter westlicher Geberorganisationen sind? // Um diese Frage zu beantworten, werden im theoretischen Teil der Arbeit ausgehend vom akteurszentrierten Institutionalismus zwei wesentliche Mechanismen identifiziert, durch wel-che die Aktivitäten der Geber Veränderungen bei den Nehmern erzielen: Ermächtigung und Lernen. Während Ersteres die Einsatzmöglichkeiten und Ressourcen einiger Akteure stärkt und damit vorhandene Akteurskonstellationen ändert, führt Letzteres dazu, dass neue Ideen Eingang in die politische Arena finden. // Die Arbeit stellt die Aktivitäten vier verschiedener Geberländer und –organisationen in Polen und der Slowakei in den 1990er Jahren vor; der Europäischen Union, Deutschlands, der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und dem privaten Netzwerk der Soros Stiftungen; und un-tersucht deren Beitrag zur zivilgesellschaftlichen Entwicklung beider Länder. Hierzu werden lokale NROs in den Blick genommen, welche maßgeblich von westlichen Gebern unterstützt werden und untersucht, inwieweit diese als Träger der Zivilgesellschaft fungieren, welche Legitimität sie bei der Bevölkerung besitzen und ob sie nach Rückzug der Geber weiter exis-tieren. // Die Arbeit kommt zu dem Schluss, dass westliche Zivilgesellschaftsförderung in beiden un-tersuchten Ländern einen positiven Effekt hatte in dem Sinne, dass maßgeblich geförderte NROs tatsächlich als Träger der Zivilgesellschaft fungierten. Sie bemühten sich um die Un-terstützung anderer NROs, erweitern gesellschaftliche Partizipationsmöglichkeiten und sind soweit in nationale Strukturen und in der Gesellschaft verankert, dass auch ein Fortbestand ohne westliche Gelder möglich ist. / With the end of the communist bloc and the transformations taking place in Central and Eastern Europe the promotion and protection of democracy from abroad became a major field of assistance. Especially civil society assistance, understood as direct support granted to non-governmental actors of the target state with the explicit aim to promote the consolida-tion of democracy, became a major pillar of democracy aid. The dissertation analyzes civil society assistance and aims to tackle the question whether it is feasible to promote and strengthen civil society from abroad. Does civil society assistance result in more civil society or does it result in nothing more than the establishment of donor driven NGOs which are nei-ther voluntary nor independent but solely function as puppets of donors? // In order to answer this question and following the insights of actor-centered institutionalism, the dissertation identifies to modes of external intervention labeled „empowerment” and “learning. In the first case, donors may increase the action resources of chosen domestic actors, thus altering domestic actor constellations, by providing finances, technical equip-ment, information and know-how. In the latter case, external actors may impact upon the ori-entations, that is, the perceptions and preferences, of domestic actors. // The dissertation analyses the contribution of the activities of four different donors; the Euro-pean Union, the USA, Germany and the private network of Soros Foundations; to the devel-opment of civil society in Poland and Slovakia. In order to pinpoint outcomes of civil society assistance the dissertation focuses on recipients and their activities. The dissertation thus clarifies to what extent main recipient organizations act as carriers of civil society, whether they transmit the interests of their constituency into politics, whether they fulfill a watch-dog function and democratic functions attributed to civil society. It therefore analyzes main recipi-ents, their sustainability, legitimacy and effectiveness as carriers of civil society. // The dissertation jumps to the conclusion that externally driven civil society assistance had positive effects in both countries under investigation as supported NGOs acted as carriers of civil society.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The collapse of communism and the fall of the Soviet Union offered an unprecedented opportunity for the international community to support transitions to democracy in a region that had long known only totalitarian rule. Among the key players engaged in supporting efforts were U.S. grantmaking institutions, including both non-state and quasi-state aid providers. This thesis explores the motivations and evolving strategies of three different types of grantmaking institutions in a single country, Russia, with a particular focus on democracy aid provision from 1988-2002. The three types of grantmaking organizations examined through case studies include: the Ford Foundation, a private foundation with a history of international grantmaking spanning several decades; the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a private foundation known primarily for its domestic focus with a much shorter history of international grantmaking; and, finally, the National Endowment for Democracy, a U.S. government-created and heavily taxpayer-funded organization established as a private nonprofit organization to make grants specifically for democracy promotion. Motivating factors for initiating or expanding grantmaking in Russia in the late 1980s included a previous history of grantmaking in the region, a previously established institutional commitment to democracy promotion, international peace and security concerns, and interest from a top institutional leader. Over the course of the fourteen year period studied, five grantmaking features are identified as influencing the development of grantmaking strategies: professional grantmaking staff; organizational habit; global political, social, and economic environments; market and other funding source influences; and physical presence. Though subject to constraints, the non-state and quasi-state grantmaking institutions included in this study were able to avoid weaknesses identified with private philanthropy in other research and demonstrated a willingness to experiment and take risks, an ability to operate at the non-governmental level, and a commitment to long-term grantmaking, informed by expertise.