The global landscape is currently shaped by a retreat from democracy and liberal world order, with implications for civil society, media freedom, and international cooperation. The United States has abandoned its decades-long leadership role in support of democracy, rule of law and human rights initiatives globally, despite the need for these efforts to remain robust.
While the democratic decline continues, there are signs of hope. Botswana and South Africa have made consistent progress in holding credible elections and providing access to justice, while many countries are improving their governance and demonstrating better performance on other indicators (e.g., transparency, participation).
The most prominent normative proposal for tackling the global democratic deficit is that of a ‘cosmopolitan’ model. This involves establishing and enhancing liberal democratic institutions beyond the state, drawing inspiration from the experience of Europe and the United States in particular. Such an approach has several significant limitations, including that it reproduces a form of democracy that is not universally desirable and that cannot fully solve the global democratic deficit.
Moreover, it is difficult to see how cosmopolitanism could ever translate into concrete institutional moments in a world shaped by climate change, epidemics of infectious diseases, volatile financial markets, unjust global supply chains, and huge poverty rates. Furthermore, the desire and ability of nation-states to maximize their power and exploit relative differentials in material capabilities directly undercuts the cosmopolitan ideal on which the cosmopolitan model is predicated. This leaves little reason for states to embrace democratic norms, especially if their illiberal rivals do so.