The role of foreign aid and international actors in the democratization of post-communist states: A comparative study of Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan

Democratization and democracy promotion continue to be contested theories and policies for both academics and policy-makers throughout the world. While there are several theories about the democratization process, there is no consensus that one theory is more applicable than others. There also continues to be widespread debate on the effectiveness of the role that foreign aid and foreign actors play in the promotion of democracy in post-communist and developing countries. This project will compare and analyze the role of foreign aid and foreign actors in the democratization process in two post-communist developing countries, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan. The central puzzle of this research is why foreign aid and foreign influence produced different outcomes in two countries with similar starting points and similar characteristics. In the case of Mongolia, foreign actors and significant amounts of foreign aid resulted in the successful transition to and consolidation of democracy. On the other hand, the case of Kyrgyzstan demonstrates how its initial transition to democracy was undermined in the mid-1990s by a large influx of foreign aid.