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This book carves out a new area of democratisation studies by analysing the transnational dimension and the role of non state actors across three different geographical regions. Chapters use data from Europe, Africa and Latin America.

This article addresses how far international rights charters and the rights claims they give rise to act as levers for development through a discussion of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified rights Convention of recent times. It recognizes the seminal importance of rights charters but also argues that the Convention is a relatively weak instrument when it comes to changing the material realities of vulnerable children's lives, especially in the Global South. The difficulties of attaching welfare agendas to rights claims are discussed in the article.

AbstractPolicies in support of democratic transition aim to reconfigure the dominant norm set in previously authoritarian states and societies. The EU's commitment to such policies is well‐established. This article discusses what the EU does when it offers democratic support, using the example of Mercosur. The evidence presented here suggests that EU policy in Mercosur is premised on assumptions of a positive identity relationship with local governing elites. In fact, however, it is not clear that democracy is understood in the same way in Mercosur as in the EU. As a result, policies resonate less than expected.