This volume explores the conditions under which regional organizations engage in governance transfer in and to areas of limited statehood. The authors argue that a global script of governance transfer by regional organizations is emerging, where regional and national actors are adapting governance standards and instruments to their local context.

The author explores the practice and effects of the European Union's democracy promotion efforts vis-a-vis its authoritarian neighbours in the Middle East and North Africa. She argues that the same set of factors facilitated both international cooperation of authoritarian regimes on democracy promotion and their persistence during the Arab Spring.