Democratic globalization

Short description: Social movement towards global democracy

Democratic globalization is a social movement towards an institutional system of global democracy.[1] One of its proponents is the British political thinker David Held. In the last decade, Held has published a dozen books on the spread of democracy from territorially defined nation-states to a system of global governance encompassing the whole world. For some, democratic mundialisation (from the French term mondialisation) is a variant of democratic globalization that emphasizes the need for citizens worldwide to directly elect world leaders and members of global institutions; for others, it is just democratic globalization by another name.[2] The term is often used against the idea of 'elite globalization', which is considered a process harnessed to further the prosperity of exclusive interests, in contrast to democratic globalization—a process harnessed to further the prosperity of all.[3]

Supporters of the concept state its purpose to;

Supporters of democratic globalization argue that the choice of political orientations should be left to the world citizens via their participation in world democratic institutions. Some proponents in the anti-globalization movement do not necessarily disagree with this position. For example, George Monbiot, normally associated with the anti-globalization movement (who prefers the term "global justice movement"), has proposed in his work Age of Consent similar democratic reforms of most major global institutions, suggesting direct democratic elections of such bodies and a form of world government.{{Citation needed|date=July 2026}

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Social movements
* 2.1 Global democracy
* 3 Differences with anti-globalization
* 4 Procedure
* 5 Proponents
* 5.1 Academics
* 5.2 Politicians
* 5.3 List of prominent figures
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## Background

Democratic globalization is a political ideology in which a majority of citizens have a say in decisions that impact their lives.[4] It is based upon an idea that free international transactions benefit the global society as a whole. They believe in financially open economies, where the government and central bank must be transparent in order to retain the confidence of the markets, since transparency spells doom for autocratic regimes. They promote democracy that makes leaders more accountable to the citizenry through the removal of restrictions on such transactions.

## Social movements

The democratic globalization movement started to get public attention when New York Times reported its demonstration to contest a World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle, Washington, November 1999. This gathering was to criticize unfair trade and undemocratic globalization of the WTO, World Bank, World Economic Forum (WEF), the International Monetary Fund. Its primary tactics were public rallies, street theater and civil disobedience.

Democratic globalization, proponents claim, would be reached by creating democratic global institutions and changing international organizations (which are currently intergovernmental institutions controlled by the nation-states), into global ones controlled by world citizens. The movement suggests to do it gradually by building a limited number of democratic global institutions in charge of a few crucial fields of common interest. Its long-term goal is that these institutions federate later into a full-fledged democratic world government.

### Global democracy

Thus, it supports the International Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, that would allow for participation of member nations' legislators and, eventually, direct election of United Nations (UN) parliament members by citizens worldwide.

## Differences with anti-globalization

Democratic globalization supporters state that the choice of political orientations should be left to the world citizens, via their participation in world democratic institutions and direct vote for world presidents (see presidentialism).

Some supporters of the "anti-globalization movement" do not necessarily disagree with this position. For example, George Monbiot, normally associated with the anti-globalization movement (who prefers the term Global Justice Movement) in his work Age of Consent has proposed similar democratic reforms of most major global institutions, suggesting direct democratic elections of such bodies by citizens, and suggests a form of "federal world government".

## Procedure

Democratic globalization, proponents claim, would be reached by creating democratic global institutions and changing international organizations (which are currently intergovernmental institutions controlled by the nation-states), into global ones controlled by voting by the citizens. The movement suggests to do it gradually by building a limited number of democratic global institutions in charge of a few crucial fields of common interest. Its long-term goal is that these institutions federate later into a full-fledged democratic world government.

They propose the creation of world services for citizens, like world civil protection and prevention (from natural hazards) services.

## Proponents

The concept of democratic globalization has supporters from all fields. Many of the campaigns and initiatives for global democracy, such as the UNPA campaign, list quotes by and names of their supporters on their websites.[5]

### Academics

Some of the most prolific proponents are the British political thinker David Held and the Italian political theorist Daniele Archibugi. In the last decade they published several books regarding the spread of democracy from territorially defined nation states to a system of global governance that encapsulates the entire planet. Richard Falk has developed the idea from an international law perspective, Ulrich Beck from a sociological approach and Jürgen Habermas has elaborate the normative principles.

### Politicians

* In 2003, Bob Brown, the leader of the Australian Green Party, has tabled a move for global democracy in the Australian Senate: "I move: That the Senate supports global democracy based on the principle of 'one person, one vote, one value'; and supports the vision of a global parliament which empowers all the world's people equally to decide on matters of international significance."[6]
* Graham Watson (Former member of the European Parliament and former leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) and Jo Leinen (Member of the European Parliament) are strong supporter of global democracy. They were among those presenting the "Brussels Declaration on Global Democracy" on February 23, 2010, at an event inside the European Parliament.[7]
* The appeals of the campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly has already been endorsed by more than 700 parliamentarians from more than 90 countries.[8]

### List of prominent figures

* Garry Davis (peace activist who created the first World Passport)
* Albert Einstein ("The moral authority of the UN would be considerable enhanced if the delegates were elected directly by the people")
* George Monbiot ("A world parliament allows the poor to speak for themselves")[9]
* Desmond Tutu ("We must strive for a global democracy, in which not only the rich and the powerful have a say, but which treats everyone, everywhere with dignity and respect")[10]
* Peter Ustinov (President of the World Federalist Movement from 1991 to 2004)
* Abhay K ("The mass availability of internet-connected mobile phones paves the way for planetary consciousness and global democracy")[11]

## See also

* Alter-globalization
* Cosmopolitanism
* Cosmopolitan democracy
* Democratic peace theory
* Discrimination based on nationality
* Federalism
* One Big Union (concept)
* Federal World Government
* Global Citizens Movement
* Global governance
* Global justice
* Global Justice Movement
* Internationalism (politics)
* Multilateralism
* Mundialization
* National sovereignty
* New world order (Baháʼí)
* Presidentialism
* Supranationalism
* Toni Negri (1933–2023) Italian marxist political philosopher author of Empire
* Transnational progressivism
* United Nations
* United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
* World political parties
* World citizen
* World Constitution and Parliament Association

## References

1. ↑ Rosow, S.J.; George, J. (2014). Globalization and Democracy. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-4422-1810-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=iA0WBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
2. ↑ Fisher, Stephen (2016-01-01). "Democratic Support and Globalization". Globalization and Domestic Politics. Oxford University Press. pp. 209–234. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198757986.003.0011. ISBN 978-0-19-875798-6.
3. ↑ Cowling, Keith; Sacchetti, Silvia; Sugden, Roger; Wilson, James R (2009-09-10). "The United Nations and Democratic Globalisation: A Reconnaissance of the Issues". in Davis, John B (in en). Global Social Economy: Development, Work and Policy. Routledge. pp. 42-57. doi:10.4324/9780203870983. ISBN 978-1-135-20358-0. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135203580.
4. ↑ Chase-Dunn, Christopher. "Global Democracy: a world-systems perspective". https://irows.ucr.edu/cd/courses/181/globdemo.htm.
5. ↑ UNPA Campaign "Quotes" and "list of featured supporters ".
6. ↑ The Senate of Australia "GLOBAL DEMOCRACY AND GLOBAL PARLIAMENT".
7. ↑ KDUN "Brussels Declaration on Global Democracy ".
8. ↑ UNPA Campaign "Overview support".
9. ↑ George Monbiot "No More Ventriloquists"
10. ↑ GiveYourVote "Supporter Statements "
11. ↑ Abhay K "Template:Deprecated archive", The Times of India, Jan 21, 2011

* Eichengreen, Barry et al.. "Democracy and Globalization" Working Paper 12450 (2006). National Bureau of Economic Research. Web. 20 Sept. 2013
* James, Paul; van Seeters, Paul (2014). Globalization and Politics, Vol. 2: Global Social Movements and Global Civil Society. London: Sage Publications. https://www.academia.edu/7305007.
* Mwesige, Peter et al. ". From Seattle 1999 To New York 2004: A Longitudinal Analysis Of Journalistic Framing Of The Movement For Democratic Globalization" Social Movement Studies 6.2 (2007): 131–145. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

## External links

* Tony Smith. "Philosopher Tony Smith critique of Held". public.iasate.edu. Iowa State University. http://www.public.iastate.edu/~tonys/Held.html.
* "Civilocracy -- Equality and diversity in global democracy". civilocracy.org. http://www.civilocracy.org.
* "Committee for a Democratic UN -- Making the UN system more effective and democratic". uno-komitee.de. June 26, 2012. http://www.uno-komitee.de/.
* Held, David. "Globalisation: fears and hopes". People and the planet. http://www.peopleandtheplanet.com/index.html@lid=27832&section=51&topic=27.html.
* Stiglitz, Joseph (15 March 2014). "On the Wrong Side of Globalization". The New York Times. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/on-the-wrong-side-of-globalization/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0.
* Committee for a Democratic UN \- Making the UN system more effective and democratic
* Vote World Parliament \- Democratic World Parliament through a global referendum
* GlobalDemo.org \- List of Global Democracy Initiatives
* UNelections.org \- Campaign for transparency, accountability and inclusiveness in elections and appointments to positions of great international importance
* Philosopher Tony Smith critique of David Held

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Global governance and identity

Proposals|

* United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
* World government

Theories|

* Cosmopolitanism
* Counter-hegemonic globalization
* Democratic globalization
* Democratic mundialization
* Global citizenship
* Global governance
* Globalism
* Internationalism
* Transnational governance
* World currency
* World taxation system

Organisations|

* Democratic World Federalists
* Global citizens movement
* World Federalist Movement
* World Service Authority

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