Suchergebnisse

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- 1 Kant's Republicanism and the Cosmopolitan Persuasion -- 2 The Languages of Human Rights and the Liberal Dialect -- 3 The Globalisation of Democracy: The Right to Democratic Governance -- 4 Sovereignty and Democracy -- 5 Liberal Democracy between Multiculturalism and Globalisation -- Bibliography -- Index

Democracy: Problems and Perspectives provides a critical review of the scholarly and political debates about democratic thought and of arguments about democratic practice. On the basis of an interpretation of Immanuel Kant's political philosophy, the book presents democracy as a regime type in which citizens, who are united to give law, rule themselves and where such self-rule is exercised by citizens who embrace local and global patriotism. In the course of developing this idea of democracy, the book addresses issues such as human rights and their relationship to democracy; the policy of the global promotion of human rights and democracy; sovereignty and the nation-state; popular sovereignty and multicultural citizenship; and cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitan democracy. The book will stimulate controversial discussions about the varieties of democratic imaginations and visions, past and present as well as the future of democracy in the current stage of globalisation. Key Features Presents a broad range of thinkers, theoretical and political positions and arguments Clearly links theory and practice Uses case studies to elucidate the theories discussed Covers a broad range of theories of democracy

This textbook is designed for first-time students of politics. It provides an ideal introduction and survey to the key themes and issues central to the study of democratic politics today. The text is structured around three major parts: concepts, institutions and political behaviour; and ideologies and movements. Within each section a series of short and accessible chapters serve to both introduce the key ideas, institutional forms and ideological conflicts central to the study of democratic politics and provide a platform for further, in-depth studies. Each chapter contains a 'bullet-point' summary, a guide to further reading, and a set of questions for tutorial discussion. Designed and written for an undergraduate readership, Understanding Democratic Politics: An Introduction will become an essential guide and companion to all students of politics throughout their university degree.

In this article, I consider the connection between globalisation and democracy with respect of (1) the historical 'waves' of democratisation and the (global) spread of 'democratic' system of political rule, and (2) the debate on a reformulation of democratic rule 'in the age of globalisation', and the concerns with global civil society, global governance and 'cosmopolitan democracy' in particular. Linking these two parts are considerations of the question as to whether a universal entitlement to democratic governance is emerging as a right in international law.

The notion of cultural plurality and the idea of intercultural dialogue have been central to the discussion of cosmopolitanism in both political philosophy and social theory. This point is developed in an exposition of the arguments put forward by Immanuel Kant and Hannah Arendt and through a critical engagement with Ulrich Beck's social theory of cosmopolitanism as a "social reality." It is argued that Beck's analysis fails to convince as a sociological extension of a long philosophical tradition and that instead of Beck's macrostructural analysis it is more promising to formulate an actor-centred sociological theory on the transnationalization of social spaces and the formation of a "cosmopolitan" consciousness or awareness of transnational actors.

"In this article, I consider the connection between globalisation and democracy with respect of (1) the
historical 'waves' of democratisation and the (global) spread of 'democratic' system of political rule, and
(2) the debate on a reformulation of democratic rule 'in the age of globalisation', and the concerns with
global civil society, global governance and 'cosmopolitan democracy' in particular. Linking these two
parts are considerations of the question as to whether a universal entitlement to democratic governance
is emerging as a right in international law." (author's abstract)