Global democratic corporatism: Earth governance beyond states

Abstract

Our image of the global system shapes our assessment of the possibilities for meaningful action in fundamental ways. For much of the post-war period, the dominant image has been of a world divided into separate, formally equal, sovereign nation-states. This image of the global system envisages politics as occurring within states because it is only there where the full range of social relations exists between individuals constituted as a demos. By contrast, international politics taken literally is an oxymoron, since the absence of a global demos means that individuals can only relate to each other in power terms, as bearers of their state’s sovereignty and ‘national interest’.