http://www.arena.uio.no/publications/wp99_23.htm
viewed on feb 4
Globalisation and Democracy*
The world order is rapidly changing due to global structures of production, trade and communication, it is often contended. Increasingly, the world is becoming one through the revolution in telecommunication, in transportation and in the formation of global financial markets. These three revolutions have made capital and information available everywhere and made possible world wide mass-media and culture production. Especially in the economic area this process is catching on, as world financial and banking centres fuse into one integrated network. The world financial markets constitute a fully global economy, while trade to a large degree remains regionalized. Globalization poses problems for national democracy because collective decisions are made in contexts beyond governmental control, and because it narrows down the options available for democratic elected boards. Economic globalization creates problems for established institutions and for the prevailing world system. However, a new political order may be underway.
In the book under current review: Re-imagining Political Community,edited by Daniele Archibugi, David Held and Martin Köhler, processes of globalisation are connected to the end of the Cold War and the assertion of democracy as the sole legitimate system of governance. It contains a collection of important works on how to come to grips with the problems posed by economic globalisation, but also on how to take account of the developments rendering the Westphalian model obsolete. The task is to reformulate democratic theory in order grasp the erosion of state autonomy and to conceptualize a new political order. Thus the political dimension of globalisation is in focus and this offers interesting perspectives on both the challenges and the possibilities facing the world at the turn of the century.
The book is divided into three parts: The...