Eu Democracy Promotion and Governmentality ― Turkey and Beyond

The EU’s civil society policies have to be seen in the context of the EU, which was founded to achieve peace in Europe and overcome ideological struggles and to increase economic growth.

Sympathising with the argument that the EU and its policies are strongly constituted by (neo-)liberal governmentality, this volume draws on a Foucauldian understanding of governmentality to demonstrate how EU civil society funding policies are based on liberal and neo-liberal governmentality constituting civil society organisations, as both defenders of human rights and economic self-managers. The author explores how the liberal and neo-liberal rationalities of EU funding have politicising and depoliticising effects on the human rights organisations funded and their work, and demonstrates that whether the effects help or prevent the politicisation of human rights depends on how legitimate or contested the issue is domestically. These themes are explored through an in depth analysis of the case of Turkey and EU funding of organisations working in the fields of women, LGBT, Kurdish and refugee rights

Unpacking liberal and neoliberal governmentality in EU democracy promotion and civil society funding, this insightful contribution to the literature will be of interest to scholars of International Relations, Middle East Studies, European studies and democracy promotion.

Hanna L. Muehlenhoff is a Research associate and lecturer at the department of International Relations/Peace and Conflict Research at the Institute of Political Science, University of Tuebingen