Globalization and the Vertical Challenge to Democracy

Abstract

Modern democracy has emerged in parallel with the consolidation of the Western nation-state. This process was characterized by the relative congruence of state and boundary formation, nation building, and cultural standardization. Like its forerunners, the direct-democratic city republics of ancient Greece, the modern model of majoritarian representative democracy was based on the existence of a clearly delimited demos. In a representative democracy, the demos is composed of a shared sense of identity, a common public sphere, and a high level of political structuring through political parties and other intermediary organizations (see also Chapter 3).