European Integration and Democratic Consolidation

This book explores when, under what conditions, and to what extent did European integration, particularly the European Union¿s requirement for democratic conditionality, contribute to democratic consolidation in Spain, Poland, and Turkey. After focusing on three specific time frames (1977-1986 for Spain, 1994-2004 for Poland, and 1999-2011 for Turkey), the book has generated four major conclusions. First, the EU¿s democratizing impact is not uniform across different components of democratic consolidation. Second, the EU¿s democratizing leverage in Spain, Poland, and Turkey involved variations over time for three major reasons: (i) the changing nature of EU¿s democratic conditionality over time (ii) varying levels of the EU¿s credible commitment to the candidate country¿s prospect for membership, and (iii) domestic dynamics in the candidate countries. Third, the European integration process favors democratic consolidation but its magnitude is shaped by the candidate country¿s prospect for EU membership and domestic factors in the candidate country. Finally, unless the EU provides a clear prospect for membership, its democratizing leverage will be limited in the candidate countries.