Democracy: From City-states to a Cosmopolitan Order?

These flashcards cover David Held's 1992 analysis of democratic evolution. The text moves from classical participation in city-states to the complexities of modern representative and one-party systems. It highlights the challenges posed by global integration and suggests that democracy must now be extended through cosmopolitan structures to remain relevant. Would you like a summary of the next large segment concerning the specific institutional requirements for a global democratic order?

Democracy

A form of government that can be understood either as popular power through self-regulation or as a method for conferring authority on periodically elected decision-makers.

Direct or Participatory Democracy

A system where citizens are involved in the immediate decision-making regarding public affairs, originally practiced in ancient Athens.

Liberal or Representative Democracy

A system where elected officials act as representatives of the interests of citizens within the constraints of the rule of law.

Demos

The Athenian term for the people, who in early democratic models engaged directly in judicial and legislative functions.

Polis

The ancient Greek city-state which, in early models, did not differentiate between the state and the society.

Civic Virtue

A commitment to the public realm over private life, requiring citizens to dedicate themselves to the common good of the republic.

Westphalian Model

An international framework existing from roughly 1648 to 1945, where sovereign states recognized no superior authority and settled disputes through power and force.

Realism (International Politics)

A theory suggesting the international system is anarchic, compelling sovereign states to pursue power politics to secure their interests.

Double Democratization

The interdependent transformation of both the state power structures and the civil society to allow democracy to thrive.

Cosmopolitan Model of Democracy

A proposed framework of democratic institutions and agencies that exist across nations, including regional parliaments and international courts.

Symmetry and Congruence

The traditional assumption in democratic theory that there is a match between the political decision-makers and the people affected by those decisions.

One-party Democracy

A variant of democracy, often found in Marxist-Leninist states, centered on a single revolutionary party that rebuilds society along class lines.

Delegative Democracy

A 'pyramid' structure of governance where local communities elect revocable delegates to increasingly larger administrative units.

Sovereignty

A state's claim to supreme authority and sole jurisdiction over a specific people and territory.

Global Interconnectedness

The intensification of social, economic, and political relations that link distant localities and affect the efficacy of national democracy.

UN Charter Model

A system established after 1945 that restricts the resort to force and treats persons as subjects of international law, though it remains influenced by states' geopolitical power.