Global Democracy And Its Difficulties

Explores the most fundamental challenges to democracy in an era of globalization and addresses universal values, human rights and development, global constitutionalism, institutional complexity and challenges to the Democratic State.

How Democracy Survives explores how liberal democracy can better adapt to the planetary challenges of our time by evolving beyond the Westphalian paradigm of the nation state. The authors bring perspectives from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America, their chapters engaging with the concept of transnational democracy by tracing its development in the past, assessing its performance in the present, and considering its potential for survival in this century and beyond. Coming from a wide array of intellectual disciplines and policymaking backgrounds, the authors share a common conviction that our global institutions—both governments and international organizations—must become more resilient, transparent, and democratically accountable in order to address the cascading political, economic, and social crises of this new epoch, such as climate change, mass migration, more frequent and severe natural disasters, and resurgent authoritarianism. This book will be relevant for courses in international relations and political science, environmental politics, and the preservation of democracy and federalism around the world. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched www.knowledgeunlatched.org

Democracy is increasingly seen as the only legitimate form of government, but few people would regard international relations as governed according to democratic principles. Can this lack of global democracy be justified? Which models of global politics should contemporary democrats endorse and which should they reject? What are the most promising pathways to global democratic change? To what extent does the extension of democracy from the national to the international level require a radical rethinking of what democratic institutions should be? This book answers these questions by providing a sustained dialogue between scholars of political theory, international law and empirical social science. By presenting a broad range of views by prominent scholars, it offers an in-depth analysis of one of the key challenges of our century: globalizing democracy and democratizing globalization.

Presents the arguments for the establishment of a world government to answer pressing global issues such as war, global injustices and environmental problems.

Illustrated most dramatically by the events of 9/11 and the subsequent ‘war on terror’, violence represents a challenge to democratic politics and to the establishment of liberal-democratic regimes. Liberal-democracies have themselves not hesitated to use violence and restrict civil liberties as a response to such challenges. These issues are at the centre of global politics and figure prominently in political debates today concerning multiculturalism, political exclusion and the politics of gender. This book takes up these topics with reference to a wide range of case-studies, covering Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. It provides a theoretical framework clarifying the relationship between democracy and violence and presents original research surveying current hot-spots of violent conflict and the ways in which violence affects the prospects for democratic politics and for gender equality. Based on field-work carried out by specialists in the areas covered, this volume will be of high interest to students of democratic politics and to all those concerned with ways in which the recourse to violence could be reduced in a global context. This book has significant implications for policy-makers involved in attempts to develop safer and more peaceful ways of handling political and social conflict. This book was published as a special issue of Democratizations.

This important text explores the widespread contention that new challenges and obstacles have arisen to democratization, assessing the claim that support for democratization around the world is facing a serious challenge. Bringing together leading international scholars of democratization, including Thomas Carothers, Michael McFaul, Laurence Whitehead, Bassma Kodmani, Nancy Bermeo, Marina Ottaway, Shaun Breslin and,Renske Doorenspleet, this book examines the issues relating to developments within non-democratic states and issues related to the democratic world and its efforts to support the spread of democracy. Featuring in-depth studies on the limits of US democracy promotion, the Middle East, Russia, China and new democracies, the book sheds light on such questions as: Is the wave of democratization now in retreat or should we be careful not to exaggerate the importance of recent setbacks? Do serious, sustainable alternatives to democracy now exist? Is international democracy promotion finished? New Challenges to Democratization brings together a variety of academics and writers from major think-tanks in the United States and Europe, and makes the book ideally suited to a wide international readership. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of democratization, comparative politics and international politics.

Power Shifts and Global Governance: Challenges from South and North' presents an eclectic theoretical framework for emerging architectures of global governance through examining country and regional case studies from the perspective of 'great power shifts' in the twenty-first century. The book analytically and empirically explores the role of global civil society, discusses the implications of the rise of India and China, analyses regional security issues in Latin America and the Middle East and develops proposals for possible summit and UN reforms.

Democracy Without Borders? assesses the worldwide prospects of liberal democracy. In an era of globalization and in an intellectual climate in which the idea of national sovereignty is under assault, Plattner identifies the essential features of modern liberal democracy and offers guidance about what is required to sustain it. This examination comes at a critical moment. After three decades of global advance, liberal democracy today is being challenged from many quarters. Among the reasons why its future looks cloudy is the popular election of candidates hostile to liberalism_in Palestine, Russia, Venezuela, and elsewhere. An investigation of the complex and tension-filled relationship between liberalism and majority rule is at the heart of this essential book. PlattnerOs contention is that liberalism needs democracy and that liberal democracy needs the nation-state. He argues that transnational bodies like the European Union cannot overcome their 'democratic deficit.' Hence he recommends an approach that will enable the United States to promote international cooperation without sacrificing the fundamental elements of national sovereignty or American democracy.