The research network ‘External Democracy Promotion’ (EDP) brings together political scientists from Europe working at the intersection of international relations and comparative politics. Our common interest lies in the cross-border activities of states, non-state actors and international organizations working to establish, improve or defend democracy in third countries. Our aim is to pool and deepen research on democracy promotion and to strengthen policy advice in this area. We meet regularly to discuss our research and current policy developments, to work on joint publication projects and to present our work to an academic audience and a politically interested public.
The EDP network, which was launched in May 2015, deepens and expands the already existing discussion forum ‘Externe Demokratisierungspolitik’. From May 2015 to April 2019, the network benefited from generous funding from the Leibniz Association as part of the Leibniz Competition. In the years 2010-2015, the discussion forum was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG).