In this working paper (WP 03/2008) by London School of Economics scholar Mary Kaldor, it is argued that the spread of democratic institutions has to be understood in the context of globalisation. Common rules and procedures provide an institutional basis for the global connectedness of states. But the spread of rules and procedures is not the same as the spread of substantive democracy, by which Kaldor means the possibility for ordinary people in different parts of the world to influence the decisions that affect their lives. Despite the spread of formal democracy, substantive democracy is under erosion everywhere, in the United Kingdom as well as other countries. Kaldor argues that if we are to renew the democratic process, then it is not just a matter of spreading the formal procedures of democracy, but also requires new fora which provide access for ordinary people to all levels of governance (local, national, global) and a new responsiveness at all levels of governance to public debate and deliberation: the possibility of negotiating a global social covenant.(Original source: http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/global/5publications2.htm)
