ABSTRACT
When the democracy-promotion agenda began to take shape in a more systematic fashion after the Cold War the concept of ‘political conditionality’ gained currency. What might more specifically be termed ‘democratic conditionality’ referred to the notion of Western relations with other countries, varying in accordance with regimes' degree of plural democracy. In countries where authoritarianism persisted or deepened, punitive sanctions were considered. Conversely, where democratic advances were forthcoming, benefits such as financial aid would flow. In the 1990s, Western states and several international institutions introduced formal measures and policy instruments of both the carrot and stick variety of democratic conditionality. It seemed that the principle of democratic conditionality was set to become a core feature of international democratization.
