Civil Society and Global Democracy: An Assessment

Global Democracy: Normative and Empirical Perspectives, edited by Daniele Archibugi, Mathias Koenig-Archibugi and Raffaele Marchetti, pp. 210-232, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, October 2011

12 Pages Posted: 27 Nov 2012

See all articles by Jonas Tallberg

Jonas Tallberg

Stockholm University - Department of Political Science

Anders Uhlin

Lund University - Department of Political Science

Date Written: 2011

Abstract

Civil society actors are increasingly seen as holding the promise of a democratization of global governance. Rejecting confederal and federal blueprints for global democracy, a number of theorists in recent years have advanced models for how to democratize existing institutional arrangements through the involvement of civil society actors. In this chapter, we assess the empirical viability of this normative vision, varyingly referred to as global stakeholder democracy, transnational democracy, and democratic polycentrism. This chapter thereby seeks to advance a new agenda in research on global democracy, informed by the ambition to explore the empirical preconditions of alternative theoretical models. We conclude that existing procedures and practices in global governance fall short of fulfilling the normative proposals in the vision of democratic polycentrism, but may qualify as a step in a long-term process of democratization toward this vision.

Keywords: global governance, democracy, global democracy, civil society, global stakeholder democracy, stakeholders, participation, accountability

Suggested Citation

Tallberg, Jonas and Uhlin, Anders, Civil Society and Global Democracy: An Assessment (2011). Global Democracy: Normative and Empirical Perspectives, edited by Daniele Archibugi, Mathias Koenig-Archibugi and Raffaele Marchetti, pp. 210-232, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, October 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2180837

Jonas Tallberg (Contact Author)

Stockholm University - Department of Political Science ( email )

Universitetsvägen 10
Stockholm, Stockholm SE-106 91
Sweden

Anders Uhlin

Lund University - Department of Political Science ( email )

Box 52
Lund
Sweden

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