Democracy through technocracy? Reflections on technocratic assumptions in EU democracy promotion discourse

For some time the notion ‘technocracy’ has been, for better or for worse, associated with the functioning of the European Union (EU). But what role do technocratic assumptions play in the EU’s new ‘symbolic’ policy agenda of democracy promotion, if any? Some authors have suggested that ‘depoliticising’ technocratic biases exist in the EU democracy promotion framework, despite its ‘normative’ rhetoric and seemingly farreaching ‘political’ consequences for target countries. This article investigates the ways in which technocratic assumptions characterise the EU’s democracy promotion discourse. Further, it reflects on the potential consequences of technocratic assumptions for EU democracy promotion: both the pragmatic benefits involved in ‘fudging’ the question of politics and ideology in democracy promotion, and the problems and paradoxes that technocratic biases give rise to by removing clear normative and political justifications from the EU democracy promotion agenda.