Global Democracy: For and Against. Ethical Theory, Institutional Design, and Social Struggles (Democratization Studies) - Hardcover

Raffaele Marchetti

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415437199 ISBN 13: 9780415437196

Publisher: Routledge, 2008

Synopsis

This book defends the case for the expansion of the democratic model to the global political sphere. Concentrating on the democratic deficit of international affairs, it examines the nexus between the phenomenon of international exclusion and the political response of global democracy.

This distinctive position is developed through a critical survey of the principal theories for and against global democracy. The main rival narratives (realism, nationalism, civilizationism, and liberal internationalism) are rebutted on grounds of failing democratic principles of inclusion. Based on a notion of interaction-dependent justice, these theories arguably provide a crucial ideological support to the exclusionary attitude of the current international system. Going beyond these exclusionary paradigms, the book defends a model of cosmo-federalism that is all-inclusive, multilayered and rooted.

The text adopts an interdisciplinary perspective that combines three areas of scholarship: international political theory, international relations and political sociology. Within them, a number of contemporary controversies are analyzed, including the ethical dispute on global justice, the institutional debate on supranationalism, and the political discussion on social emancipatory struggles. From such an interdisciplinary perspective derives an engaged text that will be of interest to students and researchers concerned with the key political aspects of the discussion on globalization and democratic global order.

About this title

About the Author:

Raffaele Marchetti is a Lecturer in international relations at LUISS Guido Carli University, Italy.

Review:

"Either democracy is global or it is not democracy" asserts Raffaele Marchetti in opening his book. It is indeed about time that contemporary democratic theory and practice caught up with this idea. Marchetti is an ultracosmopolitan. He believes that existing cosmopolitans have made too many concessions to the way the world currently works, seeking to involve stakeholders rather than ordinary citizens, happy to build upon existing intergovernmental arrangements, and tolerating too many exclusions. The virtue of Marchetti’s book lies in its having staked out an extreme position that should become a point of reference in future debates." John Dryzek, Professor of Social and Political Theory in the Political Science Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University

"That globalization challenges democracy is a truism of our time. The identification of the specific challenges (and ways to address them) depend however on the contested definitions of both terms. In this precious volume, Raffaele Marchetti combines political theory with empirical materials in order to map problems and suggest solutions for a global democracy that is difficult, yet urgent to achieve." Donatella della Porta, Professor of Sociology in the Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute-EUI

"An elegant and sophisticated contribution to thinking about the changing boundaries of political theory and, in particular, how democracy, social justice and governance need to be reinterpreted in a global age. This is a challenging book that stakes out new ground in the debate." David Held, Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0415437199
• ISBN 13: 9780415437196
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224