A Power Through Trade? The European Union and Democracy Promotion in ACP States

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is a formidable power in trade. Due to the sheer size of its economy it is now the largest economic unit on the planet. At the same time, the EU is increasingly becoming a power through trade (Meunier and Nicolaidis 2005, 2006). It uses access to its vast internal market as a bargain chip to induce changes in its trading partners’ internal affairs. The size of the European single market combined with an increasingly supranational decision-making process in external economic relations renders the European Union a powerful actor in international trade negotiations. Whoever wants to do business with Europe has to play by the rules the Union establishes, including areas ranging from human rights to democracy, from development policies to good governance.