Values and Tools in the EU's Foreign Policy: EU as Democracy Promoter in Europe and Asia

[[abstract]]As an emerging actor in world politics, European Union has learned a lot from its integration history. EU’s enlargement has expanded its members to 27 states and this expansion has its roots on democratic and economic reform. The hard-nosed expansion to the East created the prerequisites for aspiring states and EU tried to expand their values to other countries. This experience leads to the formation of EU’s external policies mingled with EU’s values and interests in way of normative/materialist approach. This is especial the case when EU designed its policy toward its neighbors and other regions. European Neighbourhood Policy and EU’s policy toward China are in this category. Clearly, EU’s models of consensual democracy, associative human rights, rule of law, equality of genders, sustainable development, and good governance are innate characters rooted in its tradition. In line with European tradition, EU adopts soft diplomatic tools in reaching policy goals: political dialogues, economic aids and other regional cooperation fall in this category. EU aims at the promotion of values in world politics; however, there are still some obstacles in the future