Aid sanctions and political conditionality: continuity and change

Abstract

This document is the author's post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.

The European Union’s human rights policy: is the EU’s use of the human rights clause inconsistent?

“…[ Table 2 near here] Two observations can be made based on the data. First, the picture presented here challenges the current consensus in the literature according to which the EU has acted coherently by initiating Article 96 consultations in all cases of a coup d'état in an ACP country (Crawford & Kacarska, 2017;Del Biondo, 2011;Laakso et al, 2007, p. 49). Seven coups were not followed by an initiation of the procedures set out in the human rights clause.…”

“…This claim reminds us of the hypothesis forwarded by structural realists according to which normative ideas stop determining policy when they conflict with vital national or common interests (Hyde-Price, 2008;Mearsheimer, 2005). Crawford and Kacarska (2017) argue that the key factor explaining inconsistencies in the use of aid suspensions has shifted from economic interests to security issues. Nevertheless, once again, the relevant articles are based only on the identification of security concerns in a limited selection of cases, which raises questions regarding their validity.…”

Requesting Trade Sanctions? The European Parliament and the Generalized Scheme of Preferences

“…However, cases of ‘EP inaction’ such as in South Sudan, suggest that the EP asks for trade sanctions only under specific conditions. In this section, I turn to the literature on sanctions (Crawford and Kacarska, 2019; Del Biondo, 2015; Kreutz, 2017; Saltnes, 2018) which I marry to recent theorizing of EP activities (McKenzie and Meissner, 2017; Meissner and McKenzie, 2019) to develop theoretical expectations on the conditions under which the EP asks for a beneficiary's GSP downgrade.…”

“…While I think of a beneficiary's salience in the EP as a condition for the EP to act, scholarly literature on (aid) sanctions suggests a number of political and economic factors which make the adoption of punitive measures on a third country more or less likely (Del Biondo, 2015; Crawford and Kacarska, 2019).…”

A Break from the Past or Business as Usual? EU-ACP Relations at a Crossroad

“…First, scholars that relies on rationalist approaches to international relations have pointed to the fact that the EU is inconsistent in its approach. In particular, these scholars argue that the EU's human rights commitments are mere rhetoric and that the Union only takes this commitment seriously in relation to countries that are of little economic or strategic interest to the Union's member states (Crawford, 2001;Crawford & Kacarska, 2019;Olsen, 2002;Smith, 1998Smith, , 2014Taylor, 2016). Second, relying on postcolonial perspectives, another group of scholars is less concerned with the EU's intention but rather argue that asymmetrical power-relations between Europe and Africa enables the EU to promote Eurocentric knowledge and behaviour and overlooking local ones (Langan, 2018a;Rutazibwa, 2010;Staeger, 2016).…”