Cosmopolitan Democracy

Cosmopolitan democracy is a political theory which explores the application of norms and values of democracy at different levels, from global to local. It is about what global governance of the people, by the people, to the people can mean. The academic advocates of cosmopolitan democracy include David Held, Daniele Archibugi, Richard Falk, and Mary Kaldor. In the Cosmopolitan Democracy model, decisions are made by those citizens that are affected by them, avoiding a single hierarchical form of authority. According to the nature of the issues at stake, democratic practice should be reinvented to take into account the will of stakeholders. This can be done either through direct participation or through elected representatives. The model advocated by cosmopolitan democrats is decentralized - global governance without world government, unlike those models of global governance supported by classic World Federalism thinkers, such as Albert Einstein.