Global Stakeholder Democracy

Abstract

A pressing question at the forefront of current global political debates is: how can we salvage the democratic project in the context of globalization? In recent years, political activists have mounted high-profile campaigns for the democratization of powerful international institutions such as the World Bank and IMF, and for greater ‘corporate accountability’. In turn, many of the NGOs linked to these campaigns have themselves faced demands for greater democratic legitimacy. Through reflecting on the democratic dilemmas surrounding the political power of global NGOs, this book challenges the state-centric theoretical assumptions that have underpinned the established democratic theories of both ‘cosmopolitan’ and ‘communitarian’ liberals. In particular, it challenges the widespread assumption that ‘sovereign’ power, ‘bounded’ (national or global) societies, and ‘electoral’ processes are essential institutional foundations of a democratic system. The book then re-thinks the democratic project from its conceptual foundations, posing a number of questions. What needs to be controlled? Who ought to control it? How could they do so? In answering these questions, the book develops a theoretical model of representative democracy that is focused on plural (state and non-state) actors rather than on unitary state structures. It elaborates a democratic framework based on the new theoretical concepts of public power, stakeholder communities, and non-electoral representation, and illustrates the practical implications of these proposals for projects of global institutional reform.

Systemic Representation: Democracy, Deliberation, and Nonelectoral Representatives

“…First, non-electoral representatives are treated as a singular class of agents who either require or evade the need for democratic legitimation. Saward (2009;, Macdonald (2008), Montanaro 2012, Näsström (2015) and numerous others contend that, because non-electoral representatives (potentially) affect others, they require democratic legitimation. In contrast, Ruth Grant and Robert Keohane (2005) and Jennifer Rubenstein (2014) suggest that international nonelectoral representatives should have their power checked but do not see the need for democratic curtailment.…”

“…Saward (2009, 8) specifically states that "non-elective representative claims can enact principles that also figure heavily with regard to elections". Terry Macdonald (2008) and Montanaro (2012) The next section provides a response to both issues raised. I argue that non-electoral representatives should be judged by their position in a democratic system.…”

Cosmopolitan justice and the league of democracies

“…13. For an illuminating account of the potential role of NGOs as representative agents see Macdonald (2008). 14.…”

Vulnerable minorities and democratic legitimacy in refugee admission

“…This suggests a more plausible defence of the Inclusion Thesis based on the so-called Stakeholder Principle of democratic inclusion (Macdonald 2008(Macdonald , 2012Bauböck 2007Bauböck , 2015Bauböck , 2018Lampert 2015). On this view, democratic inclusion is due when individuals 1 Some authors sharply distinguish between legitimacy and authority taking democracy to be strictly a matter of the latter rather than a former (see Garthoff 2010).…”