Publisher: PASOS Secretariat, Czech Republic

A ground-breaking new PASOS study by four leading Central European think-tanks into the democracy assistance policies, spending, and geographical priorities ofthe Visegrad Four countries, Democracy’s New Champions (296 pages, see PDF below) provides an analysis of the record of four of Europe’s new democracies in sharing their transition experience to promote democracy abroad and in keeping democracy promotion on the European political agenda.

The research in Democracy’s New Champions includes an assessment of the Visegrad Four countries’ democracy assistance policies and practice towards four target countries, namely Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cuba, and Ukraine.

Edited by Jacek Kucharczyk, Research Director of the Institute of Public Affairs, Poland, and Jeff Lovitt, Executive Director of PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), the project involved four leading think-tanks – EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, Czech Republic, Center for Policy Studies at the Central European University, Hungary, the Institute of Public Affairs, Poland, and the Institute for Public Affairs, Slovakia. All four policy centres are members of the PASOS network, while the research in Ukraine was co-ordinated by researchers from the International Centre for Policy Studies, also a PASOS member.

Contents

PART I. Democracy Assistance Policies – Trends and Approaches
Re-energising Europe to Champion Democracy
The Visegrad Four bring fresh transition experience to the donors’ side of the table
by Jacek Kucharczyk and Jeff Lovitt
Limited Resources, Global Ambitions
The Czech Republic’s Democracy Assistance Policies and Priorities
by Vladimír Bartovic
Hungarian Minorities, the Balkans … and the Far East
Hungary’s Democracy Assistance Policies and Priorities
by Áron Horváth
Eastern Promises and Achievements
Poland’s Democracy Assistance Policies and Priorities
by Piotr Kaźmierkiewicz
Exporting Democracy (not only Democracy…)
Slovakia’s Democracy Assistance Policies and Priorities
by Grigorij Mesežnikov
European Union: Democracy versus Bureaucracy
An Assessment of the Reform of the EU’s External Assistance Instruments
by Věra Řiháčková

PART II. Visegrad Four Democracy Assistance Policies in Target Countries
Belarus: Next Generation Democracy
by Marian Kowalski
Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Closely Watched Democracy
by Sanida Kikić
Cuba: Forging Alliances Across the Transatlantic Divide
by Francesco Guarascio
Ukraine: Supporting Elusive Consolidation
by Natalia Shapovalova and Olga Shumylo

Democracy’s New Champions emerged from the PASOS project, Evaluation of the Democracy Assistance Policies and Priorities of the Visegrad Four countries, which compares the democracy assistance priorities of the Visegrad countries, and puts their policies and priorities in perspective in the context of EU democracy assistance efforts.Two additional policy briefs, New Kids on the Block – Can the Visegrad Four emerge as effective players in international democracy assistance? and Is the EU ready to put democracy assistance at the heart of European foreign policy? also emerged from the project.

The project was supported by the International Visegrad Fund, the Open Society Institute Think-Tank Fund, and the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) of the Open Society Institute.