As I said, conditionality is virtually exclusively used by the European Union, as, for two reasons, it is the only entity that can use it.
The first reason for this is that the European Union offers candidate countries an incredible reward—accession to the EU—in return. Such a reward is of crucial, unrivalled importance to candidate countries—they could wish for no better outcome than EU membership.
The second reason is that all EU member states are committed to denying membership to candidate countries that do not comply with the requisite democratic reforms. It is easy to understand why: were the EU to grant membership to a country that did not respect the rules of democracy, all member states would be penalized and would suffer the consequences—and the candidate countries know it. Nevertheless, the European Union is not the only entity that can use conditionality.
As I said earlier, negative conditionality can also be used. Take the example of the Commonwealth. Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney played an instrumental role in convincing the Commonwealth to impose an embargo on South Africa so that it would end apartheid and embrace democracy. I remember that it took months for Prime Minister Mulroney to convince the other Commonwealth countries to impose the embargo. It was in the interest of some Commonwealth countries not to sanction South Africa. Negotiations were long, but when a unanimous position was reached, the embargo proved effective.
It can prove very effective when a group of countries are able to agree on offering a coveted reward or imposing a very harsh punishment. However, diverging interests make it very difficult to reach unanimous agreement amongst countries.
The European Union is, of course, a unique entity. It has adopted economic, monetary and even policy integration and, as such, is unique. Some argue that it is comparable with NAFTA, but I disagree. NAFTA and the European Union are not comparable—they are completely different.
In conclusion, conditionality is an effective tool, but one which we cannot use.