Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Rethinking and remaking the roots of global social and political theory
- Part II Political economy: the social and ecological anatomy of transformation
- Part III Transformation, innovation and emancipation in global political and civil society
- Part IV Reflections on global order in the twenty-first century
- 13 Civil society and democratic world order
- 14 Imposing global orders: a synthesised ontology for a turbulent era
- 15 The problem or the solution? Capitalism and the state system
- 16 Rethinking innovation in International Studies: global transformation at the turn of the millennium
- References
- Index of names
- Index of subjects
13 - Civil society and democratic world order
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Rethinking and remaking the roots of global social and political theory
- Part II Political economy: the social and ecological anatomy of transformation
- Part III Transformation, innovation and emancipation in global political and civil society
- Part IV Reflections on global order in the twenty-first century
- 13 Civil society and democratic world order
- 14 Imposing global orders: a synthesised ontology for a turbulent era
- 15 The problem or the solution? Capitalism and the state system
- 16 Rethinking innovation in International Studies: global transformation at the turn of the millennium
- References
- Index of names
- Index of subjects
Summary
The resilience of democracy
It is surprising that, while Nazism and fascism had perished by the end of the Second World War, communism had collapsed by the end of the Cold War, and post-colonial militarism and developmental authoritarianism had mostly crumbled by the 1990s, democracy has not only survived but also prevailed over all these other forms of political regime. Thus, the extraordinary resilience of democracy has been demonstrated by the history of the past. It will be further endorsed by the history of the future as contemplated in the context of the development of the last couple of centuries.
The unprecedented transformative dynamics of the modern world since the emergence of industrial capitalism in eighteenth-century Europe seem to consist of the following fundamental contradictions which account for major conflicts and changes in modern times: (i) capitalism vs. socialism; (ii) democracy vs. authoritarianism; and (iii) nationalism vs. internationalism (Sakamoto, 1994). Of these forces of change, socialism and authoritarianism have receded and capitalism, democracy and nationalism have gained universal currency in today's world. What will be the world of a century from now?
Capitalism, in the form of competitive free markets oriented to profit maximisation, will have to undergo a significant modification, or even a radical re-examination, because of the ecological constraints that are bound to grow, and because of the mounting democratic demands for equality and equity which run counter to the disparity and inequity resulting from the dynamics of competitive capitalism.
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- Innovation and Transformation in International Studies , pp. 207 - 219Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997
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