Democracy as Human Rights

Download or read book Democracy as Human Rights written by Michael Goodhart and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is global democracy possible? The most prominent institutional manifestations of this concept-the UN, WTO, IMF and World Bank-have been skewered as cloistered anti-democratic institutions by anti-globalization activists. Meanwhile, proponents of globalization advocate reforming these institutions to make them more transparent. Michael Goodhart argues that both views fail to recognize the complex link between modern democracy and the sovereign state and the degree to which globalization challenges the modern conceptualization of democracy. Original and historically informed, Democracy as Human Rights provides a carefully argued theory of democracy in which traditional representative government is supported by global institutions designed to guarantee fundamental human rights.