Exporting democracy : Rhetoric vs. reality

The genesis of this book was the common interest of the contributors to better understand the international dimension of the democratization process still unfolding in various regions of the developing world, including Africa Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Oceania, and the Western Hemisphere, Specifically, an international research network of scholars from North America and Europe was formed in 1996 to investigate the efforts to promote democracy by wide variety of state and non state actors within the international system. This book represents one of the scholarly fruits of this research network. This project was made possible by a generous grant from the Finnish International Development Agency (FINNIDA). A grant proposal originally submitted under the auspices of the editors home institution, Loyola University Chicago, and the Transnational Institute (TNI), a nonprofit organization based in Amsterdam, was enthusiastically embraced by FINNIDA. The funds from this grant were essentially divided between TNI and Loyal University Chicago. TNI, under its former director, Jochen Hppler, utilized its portion of the grant to fund a variety of policy oriented democracy promotion efforts, including workshops, lectures and support for local activities. The remaining portion of the FINNIDA grand, administered by me a Loyal University Chicago, was dedicated to funding a series of scholarly research papers that ultimately became the basis for this book. FINNIDA's generous financial support, as well as the patience of its administrators while this project slowly would its way to fruition, are greatly appreciated. Indeed, this grant project is indicative of the seriousness with which the Nordic countries, especially Finland, and a wide array of other international actors approach the normative goal of international democracy promotion.