Globalisation and Democracy: The Concept of Cosmopolitanism

To what extent can democracy be extended beyond borders? It was given for granted that the values and norms of democracy could only be applied within the boundaries of a country. Yet, over the past twenty years, it has been progressively debated that democracy can also affect global politics and international organizations. Today, the methods the world has for enforcing international law is too much dependent on whether a powerful geo-political force like the US or Russia is eager to commit resources to the issue. In such occasions, “a big state” will more likely do what it wants, acting simply in its own interests. It is argued that international law enforcement must not rely on some nation states lending part of their military apparatus to global or regional democratic entities, but instead, a military force must be globally recruited based on individuals, not countries. However, in the modern world such institutions are deficient, and therefore often rely on a big state to act. In contrast, cosmopolitan democracy is more about seeking a new enforcement approach that is more genuinely transnational. It is suggested that within the framework of cosmopolitan law, there is an opportunity of improving, rather enhancing both our means of enforcement and our international organisations. This article reviews the idea of cosmopolitan democracy, a project of normative political theory started to develop since the early 1990s put forward by David Held, concentrating on its ability to offer a new approach to the identity problem.