Quarterly Insights: EU-VALUES Newsletter Issue 2

The EU-VALUES Newsletter - Issue 2

In this second issue of the EU-VALUES Newsletter, we present our most recent outputs, including the launch of our Network’s webinar series, a research collection on Foreign Policy and Democratic Backsliding, the latest articles on Values and Democracy in the EU and its foreign policy, our new blog series and other exciting news from the Network.

New Webinar Series

We kicked off the EU-VALUES Webinar series with a presentation from Abel Escribà-Folch, who discussed his co-authored book on “Migration and Democracy: How Remittances Undermine Dictatorships”, which examines the impact of migrant remittances on authoritarian regimes in the Global South. Abel was joined by discussant Francesco Pasetti from CIDOB, and the webinar was moderated by Emily Jones. In our second webinar session, Michael Zürn presented his co-authored book with Armin Schäfer, “The Democratic Regression”, which explains the global dynamics of authoritarian populism. This book was discussed by Adam Holesch from IBEI.

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Mark Your Calendar for These Upcoming Webinars:

9th September 2024, 15hrs: Multilateralism in the crosshairs: The Radical Right's war in Brazil and Latin America against human rights, the environment and international governance, with Giancarlo Summa and Monica Herz (PUC-Rio).
1st October 2024, 15hrs: EU-VALUES Webinar | The Americanization of European Union Democracy Promotion, with José M. Magone.

Foreign Policy and Democratic Backsliding

As a central feature of this newsletter, we would like to highlight a selection of pieces on Foreign Policy and Democratic Backsliding. This vibrant topic of research underscores the significant impact of democratic regression on various aspects of global and regional governance. Interestingly, foreign policy appears to deviate from this pattern, with backsliding governments adopting unconventional foreign policy stances in recent years.

In this growing field, Samuels argues that the international context gives leaders in the US or the EU relatively weaker incentives to defend democracy, even in the face of aggressive interference from Russia and China. Other authors such as Meyerrose contend that IO’s supporting democracy can unintentionally make backsliding more likely. This is just a small glimpse of the recent research presented in this newsletter. Alongside this tailored research collection below, we have also included some new articles on the general topic Values and Democracy in the EU and its foreign policy – published during this 2024.

EU-VALUES blog series now live!

In addition, we have published four fascinating blogs on the EU-VALUES website in the last couple of months:

Navigating Challenges and Trends in Latin American Democracies, by Melisa Decancio, who explains democratic decline in South America, arguing that among others the emergence of right-wing populist leaders exacerbates the democratic deficiencies that have been developing in many countries in the region for decades.
Ramin Jahanbegloo, explains in Nonviolent Democratic Theory and the Future of Democracy in Europe the relation between democracy and nonviolence in 21st century Europe.
Xavier Groussot and Anna Zemskova examine in The External Dimension of the Rule of Law in the EU, the current challenges of judicial review in the field of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
In the most recent blog, Adrià Rivera Escartin argues that in the face of the autocratic turn in Europe, even critics might soon look back with nostalgia at a value-based EU foreign policy plagued with often criticised ‘paradoxes’.

Join us in Santiago de Chile, this December!

Last but not least, we would like to promote our call for papers for the first EU-VALUES conference on “Promoting Democracy and the Rule of Law – Global Perspectives” in Santiago de Chile at the University of Chile, to be held on the 5th and 6th of December 2024. The application period is now open until 30th of September 2024.

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About the EU-VALUES Network

The EU-VALUES Network (EU Research and Education Network on Foreign policy issues: Values and Democracy) brings together 21 outstanding higher education institutions, to enhance a wider debate and reﬂection on the pivotal role of democratic values in the EU´s foreign policy. In the next three years, we will present to you in a quarterly newsletter, featured summaries of most recent research on these topics, and access to more in-depth discussions through the EU-VALUES network blog.

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Topic in focus: Values and Democracy in EU´s foreign policy – State of Art. Selected Articles:

Samuels, D. J. The International Context of Democratic Backsliding: Rethinking the Role of Third Wave “Prodemocracy” Global Actors. Perspectives on Politics. 2023; 21(3):1001-1012.

Meyerrose, A. M. (2020). The Unintended Consequences of Democracy Promotion: International Organizations and Democratic Backsliding. Comparative Political Studies, 53(10-11), 1547-1581.

Carothers, T., & Hartnett, B. (2024). Misunderstanding Democratic Backsliding. Journal of Democracy, 35(3). Johns Hopkins University Press.

Appel, B. J and Croco, S. E. 2024. Democratic Backsliding and Foreign Policy. IGCC Working Paper No 2.

Son, B. (2024). Foreign policy consequences of democratic backsliding: the case of the Comfort Women Agreement in 2015. The Pacific Review, 1–25.

Dai, X., & Tokhi, A. (2023). New Democracies and Commitment to Human Rights Treaties. International Studies Quarterly, 67(4).

Ripoll Servent, A., & Zaun, N. (Eds.). (2024). Unpolitics: The Role of Populist Governments in EU Decision-Making. Politics and Governance, 12. [Open Access].

Feldstein, S. (2023). Evaluating Europe’s push to enact AI regulations: how will this influence global norms? Democratization, 31(5), 1049–1066.

Cupać, J., & Sienknecht, M. (2024). Regulate against the machine: how the EU mitigates AI harm to democracy. Democratization, 31(5), 1067–1090.

Recent Academic Papers and Books on Values and Democracy in EU´s foreign policy:

Nissen, C., & Dreyer, J. (2024). From optimist to sceptical liberalism: reforging European Union foreign policy amid crises. International Affairs, 100(2), 675-690.

Dubský, Z., Kočí, K., & Votoupalová, M. (2024). Enlargement of the EU Towards the East: A Pivotal Change in EU’s External Policy? Politics and Governance, 12. [Open Access].

Mikołajczak, P. (2024). Values do matter: Lessons for non-governmental organizations during the crises of democracy in central and eastern Europe. Democracy and Security, 20(1), 25-45.

Stivachtis, Y. A. (2024). Non-state Actors’ Role in Foreign Policy: The Case of the EU Enlargement Policy in Western Balkans. In Non-State Actors and Foreign Policy Agency: Insights from Area Studies (pp. 43-64). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

Antoniolli, L., & Ruzza, C. (2024). The Rule of Law in the EU: Challenges, Actors and Strategies. Springer.

Badell, D. (2024). Norm Contestation in EU Foreign Policy: The Case of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies.

Finally, what’s next for the EU-VALUES Network?

Stay tuned for the launch of The European Dialogue, our EU-VALUES Network podcast. In each episode, we engage with our Network and explore key topics in under 10 minutes. Get in touch if you would be interested to collaborate. Our mailing address is euvalues@ibei.org.