Building Global Democracy

Instead of disengaging from international institutions, the United States must work within them more equitably and effectively. Bolton's insistence on protecting a narrow and outdated conception of sovereignty will only undermine US power and ability to pursue its interests, including the advancement of its most fundamental values. At the same time, however, the United States should take the lead in designing a new generation of international institutions and redesigning old ones to ensure that they include multiple mechanisms for ensuring popular participation. To date, efforts to encourage such participation have focused on ensuring access and input from non-governmental organizations ("NGOs").

But NGOs, although important and often powerful actors, do not necessarily represent the world's peoples. Governments do, particularly elected representatives sitting in national legislatures. Yet in designing the institutions of global governance, these men and women are all too often left out. Although space constraints preclude offering a detailed proposal in this regard, I conclude by offering a suggestion for how the UN could develop a mechanism for hosting networks of national legislators.