Some Pitfalls of Democratisation in a Globalising World: Thoughts from the 2008 Millennium Conference

Abstract

The problems and prospects of the expansion of democracy at international, transnational and/or global levels were the focus of numerous fascinating and penetrating analyses by the participants in the 2008 Millennium Conference. However, there were also a number of gaps and unresolved issues. This article attempts to identify and evaluate several potential pitfalls confronting the expansion of democratic institutions and processes. Five of those potential pitfalls are particularly problematic and interact with each other to reinforce and intensify the obstacles to wider democratisation processes at several levels. The first of these can be illustrated by examining the problematic historical `roads to democracy' taken within nation states. The second looks at some of the paradoxes in empirical democratic theory, especially questions like democratic stability and the background role of non-democratic infrastructures. The third concerns normative dimensions of democratic theory, in particular the existence of different conceptions of democracy and the gap between procedural democracy and substantive democracy. The fourth asks `Who democratises?' and considers the democratising potential of different types of various actors and the challenges they face. The fifth focuses on international regimes and institutions — `global governance' — and argues that this system actually constitutes a major obstacle to wider democratisation. The challenges confronting democratisation are significantly greater than the potential for the spread of genuine democracy across borders, although some niches and relatively circumscribed issue areas may develop limited forms of quasi-democratisation more akin to pluralism.