The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved funding for the External Democracy Promotion (EDP) Research Network for the period 2025 to 2027. Thanks to the funding of around 110,000 euros, the successful work on the project “On the Conceptualization and Theorization of International Democracy Promotion in Times of Global Autocratization” can be continued.
The project aims to make a substantial contribution to the development of theory in the study of external democracy promotion. It seeks answers to the overall question of what effects autocratization has on the strategy and practice of international democracy promotion and how these effects can be conceptualized and theorized. To this end, findings from existing and ongoing empirical and theoretical-conceptual work by EDP members will be systematically summarized. In addition, the project extends this research with the aim of closing current research gaps on democracy promotion in the face of autocratization processes in both donor and recipient countries.
The lead applicant is Julia Leininger (IDOS, Bonn). She coordinates the EDP research network jointly with Sonja Grimm (University of Würzburg) and Jonas Wolff, Head of PRIF's Intrastate Conflict Research Department. Since 2015, the interdisciplinary working group connects political scientists from Europe who research at the link between international relations and comparative politics.
Current information, articles and commentaries on the research of the EDP network appear regularly on the EDP Wire.