EU, has made an end to capital punishment a non-negotiable condition of membership.

ECONOMIST: The cruel and ever more unusual punishment

China has become far more open legally because of commitments made to the World Trade Organisation as a condition of membership.

ECONOMIST: Joint ventures in China

The EU has improved life in other ways too, forcing the pace of reform as a condition of membership and providing billions of euros for modernisation.

ECONOMIST: The world after 1989

The capture of the so-called "Butcher of Bosnia" was hailed as a landmark for international justice and for Serbia, whose new government has pledged to bring its wanted war criminals to justice as a condition of membership of the European Union.

CNN: 'Butcher of Bosnia' held after decade-long hunt