Transnational Democracy: Political Spaces and Border Crossings

How are political communities and forms of democracy being changed and challenged by globalisation? How might they be reshaped in ways that would enhance rather than reduce the limited democracy traditionally available? What are the possibilities for extending representation across borders, and developing participatory democracy more amenable to border-crossing? Contemporary globalisation is simultaneously weakening national democracy and increasing transnational governance beyond democracy’s traditional scope. However, this book, while critical of conventional state-bound representation and the present lack of transnational democracy, views globalisation as presenting new democratic opportunities as well as threats. It deals substantially with democratisation in the European Union; the world’s most advanced transnational polity but well-known for its democratic deficits’; and with institutions of global governance and the comparatively neglected question of political agency for establishing transnational democracy. It provides a radical critique of globally hegemonic liberal democracy and neo-liberal globalism, arguing that national democracy has to be strengthened, rather than by-passed, and articulated with new forms of democracy which cross national borders. Transnational Democracy is a multi-disciplinary volume and covers a variety of perspectives including liberal internationalism and more radical approaches and it will interest students and academics across a range of disciplines, including political science, human geography, international relations, international political economy and sociology. It features studies of the USA, Canada and Eastern Europe as well as the European Union, and work on Australasia, South East Asia and other developing regions.