EU democracy promotion in Nigeria : between Realpolitik and idealism

Abstract

In recent years, both the EU and its member states have paid allegiance to the goal of democracy and good governance in Nigeria. Like elsewhere in Africa, this pursuit - last reiterated at the recent EU-Africa summit of December 2007 - has met with limited success, as the recent, fundamentally flawed Nigerian presidential, parliamentary and state elections testify. This study examines how European democracy promotion has played out in Nigeria. In practice, to what extent has democracy been important for EU-Nigeria relations? How have EU countries and institutions worked on the ground to promote good governance? How is European democracy promotion perceived in Nigeria? After the debacle of the Nigerian elections of April-May 2007, in which the EU had invested heavily,where do EU-Nigeria relations stand? What, if any, has been the value added by EU monitoring of these elections?