Tülin Eken, 20063536
Msc European Studies, 10th Semester
The Master’s thesis
AalborgUniversity
Faculty of Social Sciences
European Studies
Africa The EU
Civil Society
Tülin Eken
10th semester
The Master’s Thesis
Supervisor: Paul-Opoku-Mensah
Aalborg, June 2008
Acknowledgement
Abbreviations
Abstract
Introduction
Problem Formulation
Methodology
The Structure of the Thesis:
Theories:
Analyses
Source of Information and Literature:
Theoretical Part
Democratic Theory Approach:
The affiliation between democracy and civil society:
The affiliation between democracy and development:
Challenges of democracy and the theory:
Democratic theory and Africa:
Democratic Survival:
Organizational Theory
A Brief history of organization theory:
Current Challenges of organizations:
Organization theory and decision-making:
Perspectives of Organization Theory:
Communication:
Sum up of theories:
Analyses
Development for the EU:
Background of the relations between the EU and Africa
The Yaoundé Conventions
Cotonou Agreement
EUROSTEP
The Relationship between the EU and CSOs:
The impact of Eurostep:
Summary of Analyses
Summary and Conclusion
Implications of Study
BIBBLIOGRAPHY
Acknowledgement
The thesis investigates the participation of civil society in the development policy of the EU. The thesis work is part of the 10thsemester of the Master program in European Studies at AalborgUniversity.
This work has been done under the supervision of Paul Opoku-Mensah whose directions and guidance enabled me to start and end this project and I hereby would like to thank him for his time and help.
I am responsible for the results and the opinions in the paper.
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Tülin Eken
Abbreviations
ACP:African Caribbean and Pacific
CSOs: Civil Society Organizations
Eurostep:European Solidarity towards Equal Participation of People
NGOs: Non-Governmental Organizations
NSAs:Non-State Actors
MDGs:Millennium Development Goals
The EU:The European Union
The UN:United Nations
Abstract
This thesis takes a multidisciplinary look at the concept of civil society and democracy in the development policy of the EU focusing in particular on Africa. It aims at illustrating the democratic elements of the development policy and the participation of civil society to the policy towards the policy.
The thesis attempts to answer how democratic the development policy of the EU actually is, regarding the participation of the civil society. In addition, it answers the capability and the effectiveness of the civil society in the policy. Civil society actors are increasingly mentioned in the agreement of the EU which includes development in Africa, nevertheless, lack of participation has always been open to discussion.
The analysis section will indicate the relationship between the European Union (EU) and civil society organizations (CSOs) in Africa and Europe in order to answer the main questions. Furthermore, the analysis includes the agreement history of relationships between these continents. By this chance, it allows the reader to discover the amendments in the agreements and acknowledge the changes in the relationships between the EU and civil society.
Contemporary situation of civil society in the development policy of the EU can be best explained by exemplifying. For this reason there is a case study in the analysis section. Eurostep, which is a network of development NGOs, is used in order to adduce how participative is the development policy is for civil society.
In conclusion, this thesis ascertains firstly, the space for the participation of civil society in the EU’s development policy and secondly the capability and the capacity of the civil society to participate. Exploring these two points will allow the reader to understand the effectiveness of the civil society in the development of Africa.
“A vibrant civil society is important in any democratic society… [There is a] need to foster the broadest possible consensus among not just the political class, but the population as a whole…. This is a major task. It requires politicians but also other representative voices of civil society like NGOs, churches and academia, to play a clear role”[1].
European Commission Former President José Manuel Barroso,
Belgrade, 16 February 2006
Introduction
The relations between Europe and Africago back a long time, although the nature, title and the type of the relationship has changed several times. It began as a colonialrelationship that was based more on the interests of Europe. The colonial period isregarded as a sad phase in the history of Africa because the presence of Europe was not entirely a happy experience for Africa. The end of direct colonial rule, and with it the attainment of independence by African countries, introduced fundamental changes between these two continents. Europe on its part started to look for better types of relationships which can satisfy both sides. Thus the EU prepared different agreements and conventions in order to have partnership type of relationship with Africa and started to include participative development in the agreements.
The principle of participative development increased in the Cotonou Agreement in 2000. Although ACP governments areresponsible for determining the development programs for their countries, non-state actors seekto be involved in project implementation, political dialogue, planning, and evaluation of results[2]. Participative development thus aspires to increase the participation and engagement of CSOs in development cooperation in order to facilitate dialogue between ACP and European civil society, their institutions and share information between them. The Cotonou Agreement acknowledges the importance of the role of civil society for the ACP countries and the capacity-building of civil society.
The aim of the EU-ACP partnership is to contribute to peace and stability in ACP countries and to ensure stable and democratic political environment and development that is economically, socially, culturally and environmentally sustainable. Ultimately the aim is to eradicate poverty with paying attention to employment and access to productive resources to ACP countries[3]. Thus in principle, the cooperation between the EU and ACP countries is a cooperation of development. At base, it is a relationship that seeks to reduce poverty and improve the political, social and economic levels of the ACP countries.
Engagement of civil society organisations (CSOs) with the EU’s development policies became more crucial after the Cotonou Agreement, which indicated the process and the conditions of the involvement. Nevertheless, this is not as easy as it sounds. Even if the EU agreements give the opportunity to CSOs to engage the EU activities, it needs to be explored whether the CSOs are able to effectively engage the processes. This is because the capability and resources with which CSOs can participate are as important as the agreements that advocate their participation.
This thesis responds to this need to understand the spaces for civil participation in in the EU’s development policy, and the effectiveness with which civil society participates in these policies for ACP countries and their contribution to the development process. Democratic theory and organizational theory are going to be used within the paper. They provide the opportunity to explore the development policy and the ability of civil society to engage the policy. There are several reasons why I chose these treaties. Democracy is needed for successful development outcomes. For successful development outcomes correct problem specificationis needed. Concretely, the development problems of Africa should be clearly indicated for the success of the outcomes, and for this the help of civil society is necessary.
For the EU democracy is a condition for a sustainable development. Hence, it is important to understand how democratic theory explains democracy and what it provides to civil society and its involvement in policy making and implementation processes. On the other hand, organization theory enables an assessment ofthe capability and the effectiveness of civil society. The theory indicates the importance of the capacity and resources of CSOs for their engagement with policies. Therefore, it is not only being an organization, it is also about whether the organization has the capacity to engage with the development policy of the EU.
In sum, I aim to explore the space in the EU’s development policy for civil society and the effectiveness of the civil society engagement in the policy. I will analyze the background of the relationship between the EU and ACP countries, the understanding of development of the EU and the way the civil society acts in the development policy. I will use a developmentNGO network, Eurostep, in my work in order to see its interaction with European and African CSOs and EU institutions. The case study of Eurostep will enablean assessment of the organizationalcapacity--bothinternal and external resources-- to participate in the EU’s development policy. Overall the aim is of study is to find out the effectiveness of the relationship between ACP and the EU.
Problem Formulation
The European Consensus for development was signed by the Council and the representatives of the governments of the Member States meeting within the Council, the EC and the EP on December 2005[4] where the EU stated what it seeks to achieve from development. The main target of the EU’s development policy is to eradicate poverty in all senses. Nevertheless, the consensus does not only aim at the eradication of poverty but also meeting the MDGs[5] of the UN for the sustainable development. The EU is ready to engage with every international actor in order to achieve the worldwide development objective of the MDGs.
The EU associatespoverty reduction with the promotion of good governance and respect for human rights, human development, protection of natural resources and economic growth, wealth creation to benefit poor people, and with development cooperation principles which are ownership, partnership, political dialogue, gender equality, preventing state fragility, participation of civil society and democratization.Lack of good governance and governing system is also seen asa part of poverty but it is a political poverty of the country. In addition, the EU acknowledges badgovernancein Africa, in particular its effect on political corruption, and acknowledges democratization as an essential element in solving the problem of political corruption, and promotingdevelopment.
Democraticgovernments have political partiesin their decision making. However, political parties are not enough to be a democratic government/country. Civil society has a significant role play in decision making because it can perceive the decisions of government from a different perspective. In so doing CSOs, as non state actors,reinforce the government. In addition, agovernment needs to realize civil society’s opinions in order to be democratic with giving a stance to non-state actors. Moreover, it should bekept in mind that the governing system is important for the participation of civil society since other governing systems may not give opportunity to integrate civil society in governance processes.In effect, democracy is a governing system that allows citizen participation in decision making, enabling different voices and opinions, and potentially guaranteeing a better society[6]. As the EU sees democracy as a condition for development, it should be examined whether democracies in Africa allow for civil societyparticipationin the decision-making processes.
In addition, the second part of the European Consensus for development indicates the implementation of the Community development policy. The EU, in principle, pays attention to the consistency between the EU policies. The policies should not contradict each other; on the contrary, they should support each other and work in coordination and within harmony in all areas of the EU. In addition, the policies of the EU should also support the substantial elements of the EU such as democracy, human rights, good governance and respect to international law.While making sure of consistency of policies of the EU, it is important to considerthe participation of the civil society. Hence, without a strong and credible implementation system, the policies are not so valid.
The European Consensus on development is not the only document which concentrates on the third world countries’ development. Since the treaty of Rome, there has always been a relationship between the EU and overseas countries. The Yaoundé, the Lomé Conventions and Cotonou Agreement have followed the treaty of Rome and these treaties have specific relationship with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. In the thesisI will include these treaties briefly in order to indicate the changes of relationship between the EU and Africa in terms of democracy and civil society participation. I will try to explore how things change through treaty by treaty and how democratization and civil society participation are included in the development programs, evidently, if they are included in the first place.
In recent years, effectiveness of aid has developed into a crucial issue in the relation between the EU and developing countries. The way aid is managed has become just as important as the amount of the aid accumulated. It has been acknowledged that without a wise way of using the aid, there will only be small improvements in the developing countries. The amount of aid has the chance to make considerable changes nevertheless, it has also been seen that the full amount of aid has not been used. The role of good programs and implementer are essential for sufficient development. The EU has programs on development in developing countries, however, it is hard to implement a program that makes sure the developing countries, particularly Africa for this thesis, make good and full use of all the aid provided.Civil society is a voice which can help the EU to make more efficient programs and/or to ensure developing countries are improving due to the EU programs/aid.
The civil societies of Africa and Europe are one of the main instruments to improve aid to Africa. There are many NGOs/CSOs in Europe which concentrateon African development; in addition there are several NGOs within Africa which aim at development in Africa with thecooperation of the EU. What needs to be done is to engage the civil societies of both Europe and Africa. However, in order to achieve this aim, civil societies must have the capacity to engage the EU’s development process towards Africa. Therefore capacity building for civil society is the other challenge of civil society participation.
The society should have a good governing system, respect for human rights, rule of law and civil society. Civil society is a significant tool for citizens to make them speak up and make their voice to be heard and by this way have the chance to influence the decisions of the government. Civil society can be seen as the advocate of the citizens, who prevents their rights and ensure their social security. Democracy is a governing system which gives the citizens the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. Thus, the EU sees democracy as necessary tothe development process, and the inclusion ofpeople in democracy is required.
It is important to lay down the terms I use in the thesis first before analyzing them on a real basis.. Pàdraig Carmody has several definitions of civil society in his book called Neoliberalism, Civil Society and Security in Africa.
Civil society can refer to groups, networks and relationships that are not organized or managed by the state and are generally understood as ‘the population of groups formed for collective purposes primarily outside of the State and the market place’, in addition, the area of organized social life that is voluntary, self-generating, mostly self-supporting, autonomous from the state, and bound by a legal order or set of shared rules and values. Thus it can be described as a human activity concerned with the state activities and attempt to constitute themselves in an ensemble of arrangements so that they can express themselves and advance their interests[7]. Commonly civil society refers to almost all groups outside the government, for instance, NGOs, labor groups, environmental and cultural groups, etc and they aim to influence the policy and decision-making.
The necessity of non-state actors is mentioned in the EU treaties as well. The Cotonou Agreement, which is the substance of the EU and Africa relations, clearly indicates of the participation of civil society. Where before civil society was not a subject of the agreement. Nevertheless, there isnot as such, a good civil society network between European and African Civil society which can push civil societies of both sides to participate in the developmental programs of the EU.
In this thesis I examine civil society participation in the EU development process toward Africa. Although almost every essay related to international relations touches on the civil society terms, there are very few which really define it. Nevertheless, it is important to indicate that in my paper, I will use the civil society term interchangeable with the NGO term.
As previously mentioned, the EU expects democracy in order to increase civil society participation in the development process. Given that the EU sets democracy as a condition to development, it is important to examine whether the EU policies are democratized enough to engage other countries with democracy.
This need to understand the extent to which the EU’s development policy towards Africa allows for civil society participation provides the immediate context for this thesis. Specifally this context raises two sets of questions to which this thesis responds: