Bulletin n. 2/2009
October 2009
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Nootens Genevieve
    Democracy and legitimacy in plurinational societies
    in Contemporary Political Theory , Vol. 8, n. 3, August ,  2009 ,  276-294
    The paper's aim is to tackle some significant challenges faced by democratic theory in plurinational societies. Claims to recognition challenge the assumption of a 'people speaking in one voice' (namely, the assumption of the constituency as a homogeneous demos) and therefore, some basic tenets of liberal democracy. In a context where one cannot assume anymore a homogeneous demos, it is tempting to believe that there may be an independent, yet democratic, principle that may help us to solve the problem of the 'constitution of the demos.' Goodin argues that the all-affected interests principle is in fact the best principle of inclusion in democratic decision-making. Yet I argue that the all-affected interests principle is not really useful, at least as a starting point. But if this is so, and if the picture underlying modern democratic theory (the people as a nation) is seriously undermined by claims to recognition, how are the communities to which self-rule necessarily relates to be bounded?
    ©2001 - 2020 - Centro Studi sul Federalismo - P. IVA 94067130016