Globalization and Europe: How to Square Democracy, Globalization, and International Law

Armin von Bogdandy ^*

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Abstract

Fundamental controversy reigns in Europe over how to understand globalization. This is particularly true with respect to globalization’s impact on democracy. The spectrum of relevant diagnoses ranges from those which identify an extreme danger to democracy to others which find that democracy is undergoing a substantive strengthening. The spectrum of proposals is similarly divergent. Some recommend the acceptance of a loss of democracy, some call for national self-preservation, others advocate a global democratic federation. The paper provides a stocktaking from a European perspective of influential scholarly positions on the basis of categorized diagnoses and proposals, and examines their conceptions of the further development of international law. This project is carried out in three steps. The first step serves to outline the concepts of globalization and democracy. The second presents important conceptions relating to the impact of globalization on the reality of democracy in a world organized around statehood. The third step puts forward ideas for the protection and development of democracy in the process of globalization and relates them to conceptions on the future development of international law. The article concludes with perspectives for future research.

 * University of Heidelberg.

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