Is international democracy possible?

Abstract

The process of globalization seems to undermine the nation-state as well as liberal democracy. In consequence, the need to establish democratic structures on an international level is widely postulated. The argument presented here is that discussions on the alleged loss of the nation-state's sovereignty are characterized by several theoretical deficiencies. First, they employ a limited concept/definition of the state; then they are based on a limited understanding of the relations of capitalist globalization and political regulation; above all, they use a concept of democracy that is rather foreshortened and instrumentalizing. However, in order to gain sufficient understanding of the chances for international democracy and of the role of NGOs within the framework of an 'international civil society', it is necessary to recognize the fact that the nation-state continues to be a precondition of globalization, though with a modified role. That is, the 'antagonism of the bourgeois constitution' (Marx) is renewing itself in a different mode.

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