ABSTRACT
The aim of Chapter 5 is to verify whether manifestations of the observed “democratic identity” of the US can be found in primary guiding documents that formulate programs and policies of democracy assistance. In other words, can we find manifestations of the American “liberal tradition,” individualism, popular sovereignty and emphasis on small government in the conceptualizations of democracy in the guiding documents? A qualitative content analysis of dozens of strategic documents will be performed to find how the democratic identity translates into practice and how the differences and nuances between the US and EU democratic identity shape the practice and induce practitioners to adopt varying approaches. The documents analyzed range from the initial period when democracy assistance programs were formally created (mid-1980s) until the post “Arab Spring” period (c.2015).
