COUNCIL OF EUROPEFORUM FOR THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACYYEREVAN, ARMENIA, 19-21 OCTOBER 2010

Theme 2: Institutions and Democratic Governance

Democracyand Global Governance

Daniele Archibugi

Italian National Research Council, Rome

University of London, Birkbeck College

Two opposite perspectives on how to export democracy

Two opposite perspectives on how to export democracy

The Bush Administration

• Use military means and threats

• Keep total control over national issues

• Hierarchical scale between the most to the least democratic

• The European Union

• Membership as an economic incentive

• Foreign policy coordination

• Equal dignity of all member states

The Agenda For Democratization

To what extent the agenda to promote democracies, so actively pursued by consolidated liberal democracies, can be credible for the public opinion living in unstable democracies or in authoritarian regimes if consolidated liberal democracies are not equally prepared to apply the same principles also in global governance?

….probably no.How can national democratization

be associated to the democratization of global

governance?The answer is probably no. Democratic states that

like to proselytise should therefore also be concerned with:

- Providing a good conduct in international affairs;- Favour also the agenda for the democratization of

global governance

What is Global Governance?

The deliberate political actions undertaken by national and/or transnational actors aimed at addressing problems that affect more than one state and/or where there is no defined political authority able to address them

Global Governance is not Necessarily

Democratic- Players do not necessarily reflect the

desires of the people

- Players are not necessarily elected by the people

- Decisions may be different from those undertaken by democratic polities

Is there a trade off between “effectiveness” and “democracy”?

Is there a trade-off between the effectiveness and representativeness and transparency of global governance?

Are there advantages to scarify the input legitimacy in order to obtain greater output effectiveness?

What actions can be taken in order to reconcile input legitimacy and output effectiveness??

Global Governance in Emergency cases

Intervention in cases of natural disasters (e.g. floods in Pakistan)

Military interventions for humanitarian purposes (e.g. Congo)

Economic crises (e.g. financial crises)

What is requested? Somebody should do something

Who is somebody? What is something?

From the global governance of emergencies to

routines• If there are good reasons to assume that

similar emergencies could occur again, which institution-building actions should be taken?

• Can these institutions be effective, representative and accountable?

Can International Organizations Provide Democratic Global

Governance?

• Which democratic criteria are needed for international organizations?

• Can some regional organizations apply more democratic criteria?

• Which reforms can be implemented to make the Council of Europe more representative and democratic?

Dahl Criteria for Democracy 1

• “Final control over important government decisions is exercised by elected officials”

• “These officials are chosen in free, fair and reasonably frequent elections”

• “Citizens have an effective right and opportunity to exercise extensive freedom of expression”

Dahl Criteria for Democracy 2

• “Citizens also have the right and opportunity to consult alternative sources of information”

• “Citizens possess the right and opportunities to form political associations, interest groups, competitive political parties, voluntary organizations and the like”

• “All adults are full citizens with all rights and opportunities”

Which democratic criteria are needed for international

organizations?• Is there the need to introduce more effective

institutional devices, such as elected parliaments?• Can some regional organizations apply more

democratic criteria? • Which reforms can be implemented to make the

Council of Europe more representative and democratic?

Advantages and disadvantages of greater

integration• Will a world federal state be able to provide more

satisfactory and more democratic global governance?

• What will be the disadvantages of such a political option?

• To achieve a more satisfactory global governance, which of the criteria listed above should be introduced and which ones should be rejected?

The role of global civil society

• Global civil society towards closer institutionalized forms?

• How representative is global civil society?• Hoc could International Organizations give a

greater role to global civil society?• Are there satisfactory channels of consultation of

global civil society in the Council of Europe?