Assessing the impact of EU neighbourhood policies on democratisation in Morocco and Egypt

Since the early 1990s the European Union has tried to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law in its neighbouring countries with varying success. This paper assesses what influence on democratisation the EMP and ENP have had in Morocco and Egypt from 1994 to 2010 and attempts to explain why there are differences. This study uses the external incentive theory by tracing the development in both countries and then applying Mill’s Method of difference in order to find possible causes. The study finds that the incentives offered by the EU are likely to influence the level of norm adoption to a certain extent. Another key factor seems to be economic dependence of the target countries on Europe.