Building Global Democracy

In some left political theory, democracy is an aspiration that occupies a place once held by communism. One might think of Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau's work on radical democracy, accounts of deliberative democracy influenced by Jrgen Habermas' theo

Former rebels have come to power in Aceh but they now face the twin challenges of winning greater autonomy from Jakarta and controlling corruption in their own ranks, writes Edward Aspinall

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) can be considered a pioneer of soft forms of transnational governance. For some it has used its `soft powers' to contribute to the construction of a neoliberal world order, however Neoliber

BANGKOK, Jul 8 (IPS) - Using the power of his office, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon achieved a rare diplomatic feat during his recent visit to military-ruled Burma. He broke a taboo by delivering a public speech about the lack of democracy and human

While we're still arguing about whether there's life after death, can we add another question to the cart? Is there life after democracy? What sort of life will it be? By democracy I don't mean democracy as an ideal or an aspiration. I mean the working mo

For Kant and many modern cosmopolitans, establishing the rule of law provides the chief mechanism for achieving a just global order. Yet, as Hart and Rawls have argued, the rule of law, as it is commonly understood, is quite consistent with "great iniquit

This article analyses the inequality of access of people to the international policy process. It is argued that this presents an important challenge for global social policy considerations. The work explores the question of how these inequalities are prod

This paper analyzes the connection between democracy and human development. In so doing, it examines two main questions: Are democracies better than non-democracies in achieving human development? Among democracies, is there a direct relationship between

L'étude des discours des «pères fondateurs» du Canada moderne révèle qu'ils étaient ouvertement antidémocrates. Comment expliquer qu'un régime fondé dans un esprit antidémocratique en soit venu à être identifié positivement à la démocratie? S'inspirant d'

Considering the challenges the world is facing today, including the financial, energy and climate crises, there is an urgent need for an inclusive global governance structure with a high-level body fully representing the world population. A new discussio

L'AQUILA, Italy, Jul 8 (IPS) - "The world needs a new global governance," the G5 declared Wednesday, "the construction of which must be based on inclusive multilateralism." As rhetoric goes, this might sound like more of the same. But the time and place o

Universities that promote a liberal education through creative, cross-cultural curriculum nurture the goals of democracy and assist students in becoming 'citizens of the world.' Democratic education for social justice and global consciousness are necessar

Change of power through elections remains an unattainable goal of Georgian democracy. To a great extent, presidential power depends on public support. How does the public view Saakashvili? What changes occurred during his rule? To what extent has he fulfi

This article argues that the since the Rose Revolution, the Georgian government led by President Mikheil Saakashvili has created a false dichotomy between democracy and state building. They have prioritized the latter. Initially, in areas such as reducing

Recent elections have reestablished procedural democracy in Bangladesh. An alliance led by the center-left Awami League defeated a nationalist-Islamist coalition by a landslide. Democratic consolidation will depend on the new government's ability to deliv

Like all contemporary nondemocratic systems, the Chinese system suffers from weak legitimacy at the level of regime type. The most likely form of transition for China remains the model of Tiananmen, when three elements came together: a robust plurality of

This article summarizes some of the key findings from a forthcoming book, Democratization by Elections: A New Mode of Transition? (Johns Hopkins, 2009, edited by the author). Building on Robert Dahl's insight that "the more the cost of suppression exceeds

In the March 2008 General Elections, the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) lost its two-third majority. It was the first time since independence that the Opposition was able to threaten the BN. This paper looks at the roles played by Anwar Ibrahim,

The position of opposition parties in national legislature is critical to any strategy of "democratization by elections". But the third wave of democratization in Africa has resulted in only a limited increase in political competition. Regardless of the n

In the Balkans and the countries of the old Eastern Bloc, the years from 1996 to 2009 saw no fewer than fourteen major attempts to oust semiauthoritarian regimes by means of elections. Eight of these attempts actually toppled authoritarian leaders, bringi