A global democracy is a form of governance that would give world citizens democratic access and control over institutions that shape their lives. For example, it could include global voting for a UN Secretary-General or direct election of members to a UN Parliamentary Assembly. It would expand the scope of political globalization beyond economic globalization and make people closer and more united.
Global democracy is often promoted for normative reasons, including cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitans believe that all individuals are the ultimate units of moral concern and that everyone should be able to exercise equal control over their shared destinies (see, for example, Pogge 1992). Proponents of global democracy argue that this vision can be realized by creating democratic mechanisms that allow for citizen input into international organizations.
More instrumentalists claim that democracy is required for epistemic, problem-solving, and justice-based reasons. For example, John Dryzek argues that the diversity of viewpoints in policymaking helps ensure that decisions are based on the best available evidence and thus improve the chances of making the “correct” decision (see also Landemore 2013). The pragmatist tradition of John Dewey suggests that democracy is necessary to generate compliance with international rules and solve collective action problems such as climate change.
In practice, it is unclear whether global democracy can deliver on its promise. The past two decades have witnessed a global wave of democratic backsliding that is most dramatic in regions like Africa and Europe. In many cases, democracies have been undermined by populist leaders who reject pluralism and seek to advance the narrow interests of their supporters at the expense of others. In other cases, democratic institutions have been directly assaulted through war and coup d’etats. These trends have given rise to the idea that democracy needs a global safety net to protect it from the forces of repression.