EU Member States’ Democracy Support in the Neighborhoods: The Impact of De-Democratization and Learning Mechanisms

In some EU member states, such as France, Italy and Poland, liberal democracy has been increasingly contested internally in the last decade. This article explores whether this has led to significant changes in their external democracy support policies and practices in the EU’s eastern and southern neighborhoods. Employing qualitative analysis of a large set of documents as well as in-depth interviews with relevant actors, the article addresses how communities of democracy support practices in France, Italy and Poland mitigate internal EU populist and de-democratization trends. It investigates whether respective learning mechanisms exist in these communities which can address internal liberal democracy contestation. While the article identifies only a minimal impact of internal contestation on external democracy support practices so far, it argues that, in the long run, this contradiction risks delegitimizing the credibility of the EU and its member states among the communities of practice active in democratization efforts in neighboring countries.