Reconceptualizing EU Democracy Support: Linking Policy Learning and Practice-Theoretical Approaches

The EU has long attempted to support democratization in its eastern and southern neighborhoods. Considering its limited success, this paper aims to rethink and reshape EU democracy support policies by innovatively bringing learning- and practice-theoretical perspectives into dialogue. In this article, scholarship in both fields, and especially work dealing with (EU) foreign policy, is reviewed, and the article is situated within the extant literature. To establish the analytical framework, a ‘conceptual triangle´ is introduced: practices, learning, and democracy (support). Applying this novel conceptual lens allows for a critical assessment of existing EU democracy support policies and a basis to suggest ways to strengthen learning and therewith improve it.