“Strengthening Cooperation between Europe and Africa on Democratic Reform”
On the 11th and 12th of October 2010, the conference ‘Strengthening
cooperation between Europe and Africa on Democratic reform' was held in
Brussels at the Castle of Val Duchesse. The conference was organised by
European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), Egmont Institute and the Belgian
Presidency of the European Union. The goal of the conference was to take stock of current practices
and policies, review cooperation instruments in support for democratization in
Africa and assess political
challenges and opportunities in a policy area of constant flux.
[PDF version]
International
engagement in support for democratic transformations has been increasing over
the last 20 years in Africa nevertheless, there remains until today considerable challenges which can affect these
fragile countries in transition. The conference, Strengthening Cooperation
between Europe and Africa on Democratic Reform brought together policy makers,
analysts and stakeholders from different backgrounds with an overall objective
to feed directly into the ongoing policy debates both at the European Union
(EU) and African Union (AU) levels in this area.
Assessments on the instruments to ensure sustainable political and
institutional reform were discussed with an emphasis on the effectiveness in
the support to political dialogue and the relations between electoral support
and democratization. Similarly, Case studies were presented to ground the
debates on the existing policy instruments and their relevance supporting democratic transformations.
Nearly half the African countries are adhering to the basic standards of
norms of democracy. Mauritius, Cape Verde, and Botswana have had good records
of democratic reform. Even some of the most impoverished countries have been
able to rise their standards in certain sectors providing evidence of a will to
continue the democratic transformations even in these recent times of economic
crises. Mali has been able to decrease its poverty by 1/3 and increase its
primary education completion by double. Ghana has increased its average income
by 40% in the last 15 years. Mozambique's GDP has grown by 8% every year for
more than a decade. This group of African countries are part of the group which
are distancing themselves from their past economic decline and their political
stagnation and decay. They are becoming thriving
multi-party democracy with competitive elections, a free-press, better
protection of civil liberties and political rights, less corruption, and stronger governance.
The
complex democratization processes in Africa presented an overall positive
trend. Yet, there have been setbacks which have been attributed to the
trade-off between political reform and
economic growth. It was underlined that there is a need from the international
community to pursue longer planned actions with wider agendas in order to
ensure sustainability and coherence in support to democratic transformations.
Thus making a clear overall view of the benefits and positive developments in
political reform but also in economic growth.
The idea that the EU and the
international community need to further support African home-grown agendas and
processes which involve all levels of society, from the civil to the political,
was widely voiced. These agendas would allow Europe to support democratic
reform under the domestic principles, taking into account the needs and wants
of the people, reinforcing the idea that there is no model for democratic
support. Hence, placing more responsibility on the country while not falling into the democratic aid
dependency situations which characterized the 1990's.
Emerging as a crucial topic during the
conference was the focus of the international community on the electoral
process. It was felt there was a greater need to look at the entire electoral
process, from the environment of the electoral process to the handing over of
power. All these elements were recognized as driving forces for change, crucial to stability, but also as catalysts for fairness and knowledge development at the local and national levels.
Furthermore, it was discussed that the
EU assists nearly all African states, irrespective of their democratic status.
On the one hand, this has demonstrated that the EU is not disengaging from
authoritarian regimes but on the other, that there needs to be more coherence
in the EU's foreign policy applications for the states in democratic transition
to see the positive effects of democracy.
In the same respect, it was stated that
there should be more "use of carrots" with states that are showing positive
trends of democratic reform. And that the use of sanctions should be used more
coherently and less frequently as these have proven to be less effective and at
times even inefficient in bringing about change.
On the whole, this conference proved to raise interesting ideas and
stimulating debates which provided African and European policy makers, analysts
and stakeholders the chance to exchange their views and discuss the current
issues and their progressions. The conference came to an end with a summary of
recommendations that will hopefully fuel the deliberations at the EU and AU
levels on policy-making and agenda-setting in development in Africa.