Disaggregating ‘Democratic Legitimacy’: A Framework

Abstract

The notion that the current structures of global governance need to be democratised resonates in the academic as well as the non-academic literature. Thus, the Commission on Global Governance (1995: xiv), set up in 1992 as an eminent persons body, speaks of a need to enable ‘citizens to exert their democratic influence on a global process’. In very general terms, the Commission further states that ‘the vision of global governance can only flourish (…) if it is based on a strong commitment to principles of equity and democracy grounded in civil society’ (ibid.: 6).