Conditionality principle of the European Union: A democratic dilemma?

The European Union, which is a quite significant economic and political entity in the international political scene, has been using many effective tools at pre-accession period in order to determine its members. Conditionality principle is one of the most significant and visible instruments of the European Union's external relations, which is also being harshly criticized. Conditionality comes into prominence as an "accession" carrot before gaining membership status. This research takes its roots from conditionality principle in that sense and aims to reveal the relationship between pre-accession and post-accession behaviors of the member states on democratization. The European Union's enlargement to the Central and Eastern Europe transferred democracy and democratic principles to the region which closed the authoritarianism book with its all political chapters of old communist regime. However, the Eastern Central European experience revealed some drawbacks on compliance with the EU acquis of the new member states in the post-accession period. In this context, this study aims to provide a new perspective to conditionality, which highlights persuasion, learning and appropriateness of behavior instead of a materialist bargaining strategy.