Democracy beyond the State? The European Dilemma and the Emerging Global Order

by Greven, Michael Th.; Pauly, Louis W.; Clarkson, Stephen; Grande, Edgar; Newman, Stephen; Offe, Claus; Zürn, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780847699018
• ISBN10: 0847699013
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-03-22
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

Political authority in todayOs leading democracies rests on generally shared perceptions by a given people that their government is responsible to them and considers each individual citizen equal under the law. Yet since the dawn of the industrial age, democratic governments have presided over economies that function on the basis of an unequal distribution of real resources. As globalization opens these economies, the gap between legal, ideal and economic reality widens and boundaries separating Othe peopleO of different democracies erode. This thought-provoking book explores the consequent challenge posed for the inherent legitimacy of democratic systems. When distinctive bonds between political power and social obligation break down, that erosion creates Odemocratic deficits.O Pressures build to reconstitute political authority beyond the state, and governance-in-practice grows ever more distant from democracy-in-principle. Nowhere is the deepening dilemma more evident than in the European Union. This book examines the contemporary breakdown and transformation of the democratic welfare state in Europe and draws fascinating contrasts with North America. In a cohesive and insightful collection of essays, a group of distinguished political scientists debates the implications of these trends both for theory and for policy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction: Democracy and Globalization in Theory and Practice	1	(14)
Louis W. Pauly
Globalization and Democracy	15	(20)
Stephen Newman
Can the European Union Finally Become a Democracy?	35	(28)
Michael Th. Greven
The Democratic Welfare State in an Integrating Europe	63	(28)
Claus Offe
Democratic Governance beyond the Nation-State	91	(24)
Michael Zurn
Post-National Democracy in Europe	115	(24)
Edgar Grande
Do Deficits Imply Surpluses? Toward a Democratic Audit of North America	139	(26)
Stephen Clarkson
Democratic Foundations for a Global Economy: The European Experience and the Call to Imagination	165	(6)
Louis W. Pauly
Bibliography	171	(14)
Index	185	(6)
About the Editors and Contributors	191