Democracy Beyond Political Borders: An Introduction to the Special Issueстатья из журнала
Аннотация: This Special Issue of Global Policy brings together a group of scholars from law, political science, philosophy, sociology, and history to discuss and assess the extent to which democracy can crystallise beyond the nation state, and whether such developments are, in principle, desirable. This Special Issue of Global Policy brings together a group of scholars from law, political science, philosophy, sociology, and history to discuss and assess the extent to which democracy can crystallise beyond the nation state, and whether such developments are, in principle, desirable. Of course, the debate about democracy beyond borders is not new; there have been extensive philosophical and political reflections stretching back through the ages. The purpose of the Special Issue is to reconsider these debates particularly in the light of the attempts at supranational institution building that have been made in the 20th century. This reconsideration is prompted by a striking paradox: while the forces of globalisation create an ever-greater demand for global cooperation, the belief in the legitimacy of international institutions is gradually declining. The 2008 global financial crisis has made it apparent how deeply intertwined all countries have become, and how the capacity to manage this interconnectedness is both vulnerable and weak. Interdependence became a feature of the world order in the post-war period and was broadly regarded as positive, as generation after generation benefitted from rising prosperity and relative stability across the world. Yet, as soon as this period of remarkable global growth came to a dramatic stop, the fragility of this global connectedness was dramatised. When the American subprime markets collapsed in 2008, the consequences were felt across the world; and as the banking system teetered on the edge of collapse, western economies stagnated, and many countries experienced a significant fall in their economic wellbeing and living standards. If proof was ever needed that the fate and fortunes of countries are deeply intertwined today, this was it. Global interdependence means that ‘we’ live unavoidably in conjoined circumstances. The financial crisis also revealed another facet of globalisation. While most boats rose together with the economic prosperity of the post-war years, it could be plausibly argued that international cooperation was both effective and representative of diverse nations. But the global financial crisis has raised deep doubts not only about the effectiveness of global cooperation but also about its representative nature. Who governs, who regulates, and who distributes global wealth? Years of austerity have created disillusionment among western populations, as well as in the populations of many other countries in the south and east. Disenchantment set in with the capacity of national, regional and international governance to deliver public goods, and populations have – reflexively – turned against globalisation and global governance and in favour of a renewed and buoyant nationalism. From Trump's America to Brexit Britain, from Orbán's Hungary to Erdogan's Turkey, from Modi's India to Duterte's Philippines, populations have spoken in favour of populism and nationalism, and against the intrusion of outside forces and influences. Will this new phase of nationalism last, or is it just a momentary reaction that will ultimately lead to more responsive global governance? How can a world order that is deeply interdependent be managed successfully? This question becomes all the more acute when one reflects not just on economic questions, but on wider global matters of the environment and security. One of the most profound unintended consequences of breakneck economic development over the last several decades has been the intensification of climate change, which now poses an existential threat to humankind. In addition, the spread of weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, cyber) over the last 50 years has become more widespread and this poses the most serious questions about our capacity to live together in a secure and peaceful world. Considering these multiple challenges, the central questions posed by this Special Issue of Global Policy are: what is the present (real) and future (ideal) relationship between globalisation and democracy? Can we characterise the regional and international relations between nations as democratically legitimate? To what extent do ‘compound’ democracies, like the European Union, offer a ‘federal’ solution for democracy beyond political borders? And how can the relations between political communities be democratised in general within regions and beyond? What are the realities and possibilities of global democracy and global citizenship? This Special Issue approaches these questions in two parts. The first looks at the realities, and the second re-examines the philosophical questions. Robert Schütze begins with a historical and comparative constitutional analysis of the tensions between ‘foreign’ and ‘domestic’ affairs within two of the dominant international actors of the contemporary world: the United States and the European Union. In a world of international treaties, what roles do national parliaments play in their development and conclusion? The second article, by Sergio Fabbrini, explores the democratic arrangements within the European Union – the most developed supranational Union of States in today's world. To what extent has the European Union mitigated the democratic deficits of the international treaty solution to collective action problems; and which models have informed its democratic arrangements? Armin von Bogdandy subsequently examines whether these ‘EU insights’ can potentially be exported into wider international fora, while Hilary Charlesworth analyses in further detail the ‘discourses’ of democracy at the international level. She contends that the development of the concept has taken different directions depending on the context: while discussions of the meaning of ‘international democracy’ have become polarised, international law's perception of the meaning of ‘domestic democracy’ has remained relatively fixed. Having examined the legal and political realities of democracy beyond the nation state, Part II moves to explore the ideas and possibilities of representative governance at the (inter)national level. Hauke Brunkhorst revisits the philosophical problems for representative democracy raised by a resurgent ‘authoritarian liberalism’, especially in the context of the (non-)democratic structures of European economic governance. The moral foundations for democratic values are closer examined by David Held and Pietro Maffettone. Arguing that most classic philosophers have shied away from interrogating the nature of obligations beyond national borders, the authors provide a critical overview of the possibilities and limits of moral cosmopolitanism as a precondition for democracy beyond borders. The internal and external ‘levers’ to achieve global democracy are the subject of the contribution by Daniele Archibugi and Marco Cellini. Their core argument positis an interrelationship between internal (domestic) and external (international) democracy, which are said to be mutually reinforcing. Finally, Charles Maier offers a broad historical contextualisation of the dilemmas of domestic democratic arrangements, and how their pathologies have come to resonate internationally. The ‘democratic dangers beyond borders’ sounds a sombre note, yet the crisis of parliamentary democracy within national borders may – in the future – propel serious efforts to reflect on democratic structures beyond the nation state. The Special Issue was sponsored by the Global Policy Institute, at Durham University. It began as a conference in Rome at LUISS Guido Carli in June 2015, which was supported by the Institute, LUISS, and the European Research Council (EU Framework Programme 2007-13: ERC Grant Agreement No. 312 304). We are delighted to publish the developed findings with Global Policy, and thank the editors for accepting this Special Issue.
Год издания: 2017
Авторы: David Held, Robert Schütze
Издательство: Wiley
Источник: Global Policy
Ключевые слова: Political Conflict and Governance, Political Systems and Governance, Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics
Открытый доступ: bronze
Том: 8
Страницы: 5–6