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The Unintended Consequences of Democracy Promotion: International Organizations and Democratic Backsliding

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2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Political Science.
Since the end of the Cold War, international organizations (IOs) have engaged in unprecedented levels of democracy promotion and are widely viewed as positive forces for democracy. However, this increased emphasis on democracy has more recently been accompanied by rampant illiberalism and a sharp rise in cases of democratic backsliding in new democracies. What explains democratic backsliding in an age of unparalleled international support for democracy? Democratic backsliding occurs when elected officials weaken or erode democratic institutions and results in an illiberal or diminished form of democracy, rather than autocracy. This dissertation argues that IOs commonly associated with democracy promotion can support transitions to democracy but unintentionally make democratic backsliding more likely in new democracies. Specifically, I identify three interrelated mechanisms linking IOs to democratic backsliding. These organizations neglect to support democratic institutions other than executives and elections; they increase relative executive power; and they limit states’ domestic policy options via requirements for membership. Limited policy options stunt the development of representative institutions and make it more difficult for leaders to govern. Unable to appeal to voters based on records of effective governance or policy alternatives, executives manipulate weak institutions to maintain power, thus increasing the likelihood of backsliding. Empirically, this dissertation makes several contributions. First, I create and validate a latent variable-based cross-national indicator, the Democratic Institutional Strength (DIS) index. The DIS index draws on a theoretically based conceptualization of democratic backsliding, an increasingly important concept for which there had been no previous metric. Second, I combine original and existing panel data to test my theory and find that membership in IOs associated with democracy promotion makes subsequent democratic backsliding more likely. Such IOs also lead to reduced checks on executive power, limited economic policy options, and stunted party development in new democracies. Case studies of democratic backsliding in the European Union (EU) illuminate these causal mechanisms. Focusing on the EU’s two most extreme cases to date, Hungary and Poland, I illustrate how EU requirements contribute to backsliding by decreasing states’ domestic policy space and increasing executive power. The theory and findings contribute to debates on how international factors impact domestic outcomes, especially processes of democratization, as well as to nascent theories of democratic backsliding.
Alexander Thompson, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Irfan Nooruddin, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Marcus Kurtz, PhD (Committee Member)
William Minozzi, PhD (Committee Member)
Sara Watson, PhD (Committee Member)
238 p.

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Citations

  • Meyerrose, A. M. (2019). The Unintended Consequences of Democracy Promotion: International Organizations and Democratic Backsliding [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1560253154941304

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Meyerrose, Anna. The Unintended Consequences of Democracy Promotion: International Organizations and Democratic Backsliding . 2019. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1560253154941304.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Meyerrose, Anna. "The Unintended Consequences of Democracy Promotion: International Organizations and Democratic Backsliding ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1560253154941304

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)