Normative in the sheets, pragmatic in the streets: The EU's external democracy promotion and Azerbaijan as a case study

Abstract

Formålet med denne masteroppgaven har vært å undersøke EUs forsøk på å fremme demokrati i Azerbaijan i tidsrommet 2004-2021. Oppgavens fokus omhandler sammenhengen og dynamikken mellom demokrati og sikkerhet i det bilaterale forholdet mellom EU og Azerbaijan. Masteroppgaven er kvalitativ og bruker metodene diskurs-analyse, samt prosess-sporing.

This thesis offers an assessment of the EU’s efforts at promoting democracy in Azerbaijan between 2004 and 2021. The focus lies on the democracy-security nexus in the bilateral EU-Azerbaijan relationship, and the frameworks within which Azerbaijan and the EU cooperates, such as the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), and the Eastern Partnership (EaP). The thesis is a qualitative single case study, drawing on mixed methods where the analysis rests upon the critical issue areas of good governance, and energy security. By utilising a combination of process tracing and discourse analysis, this thesis seeks to establish correlation between the EU’s norms-oriented discourse and its pragmatic and realism-inspired practice, embedded in the logic of the democracy-security nexus.