Liberal Democracy into the Twenty-first Century

This text offers a contemporary critique of liberal democracy, examining the meaning of democracy today, as it faces the challenges of feminism, multiculturalism, globalization and European integration. The author discusses the notions of sovereignty, constitutionalism and representation, and analyzes the liberal concept of citizenship. He then surveys the conceptual history of civil society, and presents republican and deliberative politics (after Habermas) as alternative conceptualizations of democracy. Next Axtmann shows how feminism and multi-culturalism challenge liberal democracy with their demands for the granting of group rights. Finally he demonstrates how global interdependence and supranational integration demand a reconsideration of democratic sovereignty. He considers that the idea of democratic rule by the sovereign people in the sovereign nation-state is being transformed to reflect new connections between citizens, governments and supranational institutions.