Postnational democracies without postnational states? Some skeptical reflections

Abstract

Prominent critical theorists (including Jürgen Habermas) have embraced a radical democratic version of the popular notion of ‘global governance without government’, according to which postnational democratization can be achieved without establishing robust firms of postnational statehood. The sources of the argument in Hauke Brunkhorst’s recent theorizing are critically interrogated. Brunkhorst’s interpretation of the European Union as an emerging case of postnational democracy, his critique of traditional ideas of state sovereignty, and Kelsenian notions about the primacy of global law are criticized. Robust democracy ‘beyond the nation-state’ will necessarily require the establishment of democratic postnational statehood.

Keywords: global governance; global democracy; state building; monopoly on violence; cosmopolitanism; critical theory

(Published: 10 March 2009)

Citation: Ethics & Global Politics. DOI: 10.3402/egp.v2i1.1939