Challenges to the Realization of a Global Right to Democracy
Posted: 5 Apr 2010
There are 2 versions of this paper
Challenges to the Realization of a Global Right to Democracy
Challenges to the Realization of a Global Right to Democracy
Date Written: March 31, 2010
Abstract
The halcyon days of democratization have ended. The Third Wave of democracy that started on the Iberian Peninsula in 1974, swept the globe as the Cold War collapsed, and produced the much discussed euphoria of the “end of history” slowed and even suffered setbacks in the first decade of the new millennium. For two decades, with the optimism bred of assured inevitability, western governments and international organizations (IGOs) mobilized resources for democratic nation-building in failed states, countries in transition, and in what former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called “states-at-risk.” Unfortunately, experience has not matched the earlier vision and unexpected obstacles threaten to reverse the march toward a universal democratic order. The universalism of the idealist project ran up against quite practical obstacles, leaving open the question of whether democracy could become the common template of national government in an era of globalization, even whether all people have a “right” to a democratic political system.
Keywords: international organizations, democratization
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