The globalization process has weakened national states, which have lost their ability to formulate autonomous national policies and guarantee the classic principles of state sovereignty. Citizens’ rights, traditionally linked to the national state, are threatened by the globalization process. In recent decades we have witnessed an extraordinary worldwide growth in organizations from civil society, who are faced with the states’ reasons and the interests of transnational corporations in the international sphere. Based on empirical research by the United Nations, the World Bank, and other international agencies, we identify a trend towards the formation of a global civil society, which has been exerting influence on international decisions, thus contributing to the democratization of the world’s political system.
Citizenship; Global Civil Society; Cosmopolitan Democracy