Globalization, Civil Society, and Democracy?: An Organizational Assessment

John Barkdull and Lisa A. Dicke
Seton Hall Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Volume 5, Number 2
Summer/Fall 2004

 

As globalization has advanced, citizens, activists, and scholars have expressed increasing concern that the growth of corporate power and the blurring of national boundaries have created a global democratic deficit. "For a range of common problems, the world has no formal institutional mechanism to ensure that voices representing all relevant parts are heard in the discussion." National governments can no longer control the forces that affect the welfare of the citizens they represent. They turn to multilateral organizations to manage acute global problems, removing the locus of decision-making authority further from average citizens. Decentralized global markets provide no mechanism for collective public choice, and corporations hold unchecked power to affect citizens' jobs, incomes, communities, and environments. Meanwhile, many new democracies around the world struggle to consolidate and stabilize their institutions of government as well as cope with the burdens imposed by globalization. Some young democracies have already faltered, and others are facing crisis. Against these serious challenges, is there a means for channeling truly global, democratic voices?

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