A new approach for evaluating democratic progress, stasis and regression in the Eastern Neighbourhood

The paper will conduct a comprehensive review and analysis of democracy building efforts in the Eastern Partnership countries over the past decade (2010 to 2022) by exploring areas in which there was progress, stasis and regression. Building on conceptualisation of liberal democracy by the Varieties of Democracy project, one main pillar will rely on institutional components of democracy. In line with the REDEMOS project’s understanding of the centrality of the “demos” in the transition towards and the sustainability of democracy, we aim to anchor furthermore citizen components. Thus, we claim that support for democracy needs to be reflected in citizens’ active participation in the political process as well as the presence of activists and associations that actively engages for democratic principles. Drawing upon the work of Mayne and Geissel (2016), the citizens’ component of our model involves the following three dimensions: Democratic commitments (values) within the demos, political capacity (resources and skills) of the demos, and political participation (action) of the demos. Our paper will present this innovative conceptualization and offer empirical spotlights from the Eastern Neighbourhood.