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Globalization and Democracy 213

the Yemeni representative on the UN Security Council voted against the
resolution that would have legalized the invasion, the US cancelled its $70
million of annual aid to Yemen (Monbiot, 2004 : 78).
Of course, in some respects, the problem that democratic procedures
do not lead to substantively democratic outcomes is not peculiar to inter-
national institutions. On the contrary, backroom dealing, and outright
bribery and threats go on everywhere in the lobbying of governments by
wealthy interest groups, and policies that work for the benefi t of some
often do not work for the good of all. Nevertheless, the differences in
state capacities are so great that to make IGOs genuinely democratic
would surely require more than institutional reform. If gross social and
economic inequalities between individuals within states inevitably lead to
substantive failures in democracy, even if democratic procedures were
developed and adhered to in IGOs, given the immense inequalities between
states, much more than institutional reform would seem to be needed. In
addition to this problem, moreover, the question of whether the leaders
of states, elected on national issues, are able to represent citizens ade-
quately in international political institutions exacerbates the “ democratic
defi cit ” of IGOs. This is especially the case because – as we have seen in
the European Union – voters generally take very little interest in what is
still perceived as “ foreign policy. ” It is because IGOs are widely perceived
as unrepresentative and unjust on all these counts that they have become
the targets of different strategies of democratization by the organizations,
groups, and individuals organized into social movements that make up
global civil society.

5.3 Global Civil Society

“ Global civil society ” is a complex and controversial concept. It is intended
to be simply descriptive in some respects. John Keane defi nes global civil
society as “ a dynamic non - governmental system of interconnected social -
economic institutions that straddle the whole earth, and that have complex
effects that are felt in its four corners ” (Keane, 2003 : 8). “ Non -
governmental ” includes a huge range and variety of participants, from
religious groups, sports clubs, debating societies, academies, and trades
unions, through to groups of concerned citizens (Habermas, 1992 : 453).
Besides its non - governmental character, what characterizes civil society,
above all, is civility , the peaceful negotiation of shared social meanings.
From the point of view of the democratization of globalization, the most
important participants in global civil society are individuals, groups, and