Is Globalization Enhancing Or Reducing Democratic Government Essay

Is Globalization Enhancing Or Reducing Democratic Government Essay Is Globalization Enhancing Or Reducing Democratic Government â€" Essay Example > Globalization and Democratic GovernmentIntroductionIt has been observed by some political critics that globalisation masquerades an impending and solemn threat to democracy. Impressionistic confirmation of this threat is definitely potent: trans-national corporations (TNCs) appear ever more capable to escape the access of state directive. The activities and policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are recurrently observed as intrusive with the autonomy and sovereignty of states and advancing a global corporate programme. (Evans, 2002, 62-87)Despite this reality that globalization intimidates democracy is extensively shared, it has confirmed difficult to launch the nature and degree of the threat on definite experiential basis. Much of the substantiation is vague or debatable; several scholars decline the whole debate as sheer globaloney while others believe that globalization is little more than theatrical or theoretical cover for a neo-liberal financial outline. Yet the critics who agree to the ground that something is going on cannot agree how new, how considerable or how everlasting current developments might be. (Dahl, 1991, 154) The globalization debate comprises not so much in discernment conflicting with authenticity as in uncertain reality following frequent and occasionally opposing perceptions. (Przeworski, 1997, 121-26) This elevated amount of experiential vagueness has led some well-known intellectuals of democracy to propose that political scholars can possibly add little of exercise to the discussion on globalization and democracy. Western governments, multinationals, and international NGOs adopted positions and perspectives that claimed greater concern with the nature of political structures within developing and newly industrialized states. The actor-based approach heeds the call of a growing number of analysts for detailed research into the strategies and concerns of different actors in relati on to international political trends. From the mid-1990s, theorists argued that it was necessary to correct the common impressions either that some kind of impersonal dissemination or snow-balling momentum has worked in democracy's favour, or conversely, that some apparently exogenous structural trends of globalization have necessarily worked against the vitality of national level democracy. (Evans, 2002, 62-87) Neither of these forms of analysis, it was widely asserted, accorded sufficient priority to the complex motives and actions of actors whose presence at the international level gave them a key stake in, and influence over, political trends throughout different regions of the world. (Walter, 1998, 292) Conceptual Evaluation of Democracy in Global PerspectiveDemocracy is always named and used in the liberal discursive process. But if we refer to history, democracy of these days is not the same as democracy decades ago. Thus, it is important that democracy is understood as an evolution and not as a static concept. Similarly it is necessary to understand democracy by its principles and not by its practitioners in power. Liberal democracy can be briefly defined as a system of government in which the people rule themselves, either directly or indirectly but in either case subject to constitutional restraints on the power of the majority (Dickerson and Flanagan, 2005, 239). If we analyze democracy by the principles extracted from the definition: equality of political rights, majority rule, political participation, and political freedom, we can ask ourselves if the present formal democracy represents its own principles. Dickerson and Flanagan say that equality of political rights mean that every individual has the right to vote, run for office, and serve on a jury, speak on public issues and carry out other public functions. Furthermore, political rights are a matter of degree because they have been evolving during the last century. But it is not possible t o know how much political equality is enough for democracy, because it seems to change every time and under different circumstances. An important example of how political rights can vary is the United States, because since 1787 until 1960 the franchise was extended to a majority of its citizens. (Dickerson and Flanagan, 2005, 243)