抄録
Nation-states are suffering the loss of autonomy: market-driven globalization dictates the government a neo-liberal policy and global capital narrows the capacity to respond to democratic demands. In facing these difficulties, some democrats consider transnational democracy (TD) to be a possible alternative to conventional territory-based democracy. TD opens, as its proponents argue, new democratic space and calls for democratic deliberation and participation beyond the state.
The paper explores the ideals and institutional designs of TD, and takes a critical look at their goals of democratizing international and regional organizations like the UN and EU, building a global civil society as a network of social forces, and establishing democratic control over global governance. The paper also suggests that the goals of TD may at times come into conflict with one another, and global civil society, despite its claim to be ‘inclusive’, is not logically democratic but may serve as an instrument for the exclusion of certain people like non-active citizens in developing countries, who little know the rule of bottom-up game.
