Cosmopolitan Democracy: A Restatement

Can democracy be expanded beyond borders? For many years, it was taken for granted that the norms and values of democracy could be applied within the boundaries of a state only. But over the last 20 years, it has been increasingly argued that democracy can also inform international organizations and global politics. This article recapitulates the foundations of cosmopolitan democracy, a project of normative political theory developed since the early 1990s. The article also explores the possibility of moving towards cosmopolitan democracy in specific domains such as: (1) the development of a global rule of law; (2) the direct participation of stake-holders in trans-border political decisions; and (3) the possibility of giving voice to citizens through a World Parliamentary Assembly. The paper finally explores how citizenship education can use cosmopolitan democracy and, at the same time, provides a model of it.