Abstract
In the contemporary world, there have been many attempts to define democracy and the democratisation process in the field of international relations. The manifold aspects of democracy and its operationalisation have been put under the microscope by both academics and practitioners. In this regard, The Democratization of International Institutions: First International Democracy Report, edited by Lucio Levi, Giovanni Finizio and Nicola Vallinoto, offers the reader an understanding of the concept of democracy as applied to international organisations.
The editors have structured the volume around six major sections that assess the democratisation processes in different international institutions. Alongside the traditional approach of such analysis (i.e. looking at regional and universal organisations), this volume looks deeper into this process and highlights new actors and forms of relations between international and regional institutions.
Following the editors’ organisational structure, the first section starts by pointing out the main concepts of democratisation at both the domestic and international level, analysing, for example, input legitimacy, levels of participation, inter-state democracy, supranationalist human rights and the emergence of civil society and its participation (p. 22). In the next section, the authors have selected a range of global organisations (UN, WTO, World Bank, IMF, ILO) and seek to understand how those concepts described in the first section can be applied to such forms of international organisation. Under this framework, Giovanni Finizio argues that in the case of the UN, for instance, over the years, and despite the fact that its charter has remained almost unchanged, it is possible to see an increasing level of participation by civil society (p. 74).
The third section is dedicated to regional organisations in Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania. Given the importance of the European Union in the modern world, there is more careful and detailed treatment of aspects of the democratisation process of this regional organisation in particular. Nonetheless, the book also discusses some relatively recent organisations, such as Mercosur, UNASUR and the Andean Community in the Americas; the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States and the Southern African Development Community in Africa; and in Asia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is the most relevant, but also the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The fourth section considers inter-regional organisations such as the Council of Europe, the League of Arab States, NATO and the Council of Baltic Seas, among others. The fifth section, edited by Laura Roscio, presents the main aspects of inter-parliamentary assemblies and their relation to representative organisations, such as the Amazonian Parliament (PARLAMAZ), the Baltic Assembly, and the Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas, for example. In conclusion, this volume provides an excellent guide for those who are looking to explore democracy within international relations.