Promoting and protecting democracy through development cooperation

Germany is the largest bilateral donor for democracy promotion. Guided by the 2030 Agenda, German development cooperation interventions particularly focus on promoting peace, justice and accountable, inclusive institutions. Moreover, the BMZ supports core democratic institutions such as electoral authorities and parliaments through the work of NGOs and political foundations. The ministry also promotes various reform processes through budget support and policy-based financing. On a multilateral level, the BMZ is involved in various international forums, networks and initiatives.

Autocratic regimes outnumber democracies for the first time in 20 years. In addition, the quality of democracy is deteriorating in many partner countries, with increasing restrictions on political rights and civil liberties. In addition, even established democracies are facing growing pressure. Nationalist movements are becoming stronger and, with the dismantling of USAID, the USA is scaling back its support for democracy promotion. At the same time, China, Russia and Turkey are promoting autocracies.

These developments pose a challenge for German development cooperation because they jeopardise development progress. They also erode the shared normative foundation that facilitates international relations and enables political cooperation between states.

The evaluative study is intended to consolidate scientific findings on promoting and protecting democracy in times of autocratisation in a systematic, well-founded and useful way. It thus enables the BMZ and other stakeholders to learn more about the issues involved and base future interventions on the knowledge gained.

The evaluative study analyses the relevance, effectiveness and development impact of promoting democracy through development cooperation. Regarding relevance, the study reviews the evidence on the dividends of democratic rule and analyses public opinion surveys conducted in seven sub-Saharan African countries and Germany.

It analyses the effectiveness of interventions to promote democracy at several levels: at country level (macro level) and, disaggregated by type of intervention, at the level of institutions (meso level) and individuals (micro level). At country level, the study assesses the current state of research in macro-quantitative studies. In addition, it conducts primary statistical analyses to assess the effects of development cooperation for democracy levels in partner countries as well as their resilience against autocratisation.

At the level of institutions and individuals, the study conducts two syntheses of qualitative and rigorous studies, analysing the effectiveness of promoting democracy in different funding areas and the effectiveness of different types of interventions. Here, it takes into account the political context in the partner country and possible unintended effects.