Democracy and the Global Order : From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance

ISBN-13: 9780745600567 / Angielski / Miękka / 1995 / 336 str.

David Held

Opis

This book provides a highly original account of the changing meaning of democracy in the contemporary world, offering both an historical and philosophical analysis of the nature and prospects of democracy today.

Recenzje

"David Held has produced a magisterial account of democratic theory as it applies to a world of intensifying global relations ... I regard this book as indispensable reading for scholars and citizens alike – a comprehensive rethinking and remapping of the terrain of democracy." Richard Falk, Princeton University

"A comprehensive account ... Democracy and the Global Order is both an impressive combination of philosophical analysis, sociological inquiry, and practical observation, and an excellent synthesis of traditional political theory and International Relations. It′s accessibility is one of its resounding strengths. Many parts of the book can be recommended for use in a variety of survey undergraduate courses and specialist courses in international law, international organisations, European studies and global governance. No other work introduces the main strands of democratic theory, analyses the rise of the modern state and the contemporary pressures on state autonomy, considers developments in international or "cosmopolitan" law and explores models of cosmopolitan democracy so lucidly and systematically. It is an important contribibution to modern democratic theory and to the larger project of bridging the peculiar gulf between political theory and IR." Millennium

"Held has provided an immensely powerful manifesto for our times in a judicious and meticulously constructed framework." Sociological Review

"He draws upon previous contributions to provide in this book a comprehensive and powerful synthesis of his thought. Such an ambitious and wide–ranging enterprise is bound to provide the material of discussion for many years to come." Sociology

"Democracy and the Global Order is a significant scholarly achievement and, more importantly, a considerable political resource. We could do worse than to approach such a debate with the same mixture of philosophical rigour, institutional imagination and political nerve that David Held has displayed." New Left Review

"Held has produced a very important discussion of the meaning and practice of democracy at the end of the century." Ethics

Spis treści

Part I: Introduction. .

1. Stories of Democracy: Old and New.

Part II: Analysis: The Formation and Displacement of the Modern State.

2. The Emergence of Sovereignty and the Modern State.

3. The Development of the Nation–State and the Entrenchment of Democracy.

4. The Inter–State System.

5. Democracy, the Nation–State and the Global Order I.

6. Democracy, the Nation–State and the Global Order II.

Part III: Reconstruction: Foundations of Democracy. .

7. Rethinking Democracy.

8. Sites of Power, Problems of Democracy.

9. Democracy and the Democratic Good.

Part IV: Elaboration and Advocacy: Cosmopolitan Democracy. .

10. Political Community and the Cosmopolitan Order.

11. Markets, Private Property and Cosmopolitan Democratic Law.

12. Cosmopolitan Democracy and the New International Order.

References and Select Bibliography.

Index.

O autorze

David Held is Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Blurb

Democracy is the most potent political idea in the world today, yet the future of democracy is increasingly uncertain. Key assumptions of democratic thinking and practice are being undermined by diverse sites of social and economic power on the one hand, and by dense networks of regional and global interconnectedness on the other. Distant localities are now interlinked as never before as states and societies are more tightly enmeshed in webs of international conditions and processes.

Democracy and the Global Order offers a highly original and systematic account of these issues. After critically assessing traditional conceptions of democracy in the first part of the volume, part II examines the historical development of the modern state in the context of the inter–state system and the world economy; it traces the rise and displacement of the modern nation–state. Part III explores the theoretical bases of democracy and of the democratic state, and the profound changes these concepts must undergo if they are to retain their relevance in the century ahead. Part IV champions a "cosmopolitan" model of democracy – a new conception of democracy for a new world order. The author argues that, from economic development to the fight against disease, new democratic mechanisms and procedures are urgently needed. The case is made for, among other things, the reform of the UN, the extension of the idea of regional parliaments, cross–national referenda as well as the enrichment of democracy at the level of cities, workplaces and neighbourhoods.