Paper short abstract:

Paper long abstract:

Election Observation was developed as a strong and highly visible tool of political third party intervention in the context of democratisation efforts and post-conflict peacebuilding since the nineties. The European Union became one of the biggest international agencies in this arena with a unified methodology established in 2000 and the European Union Election Observation Missions (EU EOMs) since then. Employed as independent institutions with a specific design and a clear task, such missions, their findings and subsequent political statements evoke reactions and discussions on international commitments to democracy not only in the host countries, but also within the European community itself. Referring to transnational standards and good electoral practices, this paper will examine the emergence, the tool and social dynamics of EU election observation in the framework of international relations and will exemplify this mechanism based on experiences with the EU EOM to Sudan 2010 and other missions.