Making international organizations more democratic
There are those that argue that international organizations are inherently democratic because they are based on international law which makes them subject to the rule of law, they have procedural means of addressing controversies, many of their activities are transparent and because they are accountable to member states (and thus to global citizens to some degree). These are certainly good aspects of international organizations but do not qualify them as democratic. To be considered fully democratic, international organizations need to implement various reforms.
Firstly, these organizations would have to opt for transparent and accountable forms of governance rather than secretive structures and agreements. This will strengthen accountability to global citizens. To further increase transparency and accountability, parliamentary assemblies within these institutions need to be created. Unlike existing international parliamentary assemblies, the parliamentary institutions proposed here should have citizen-elected members and must not be limited to an advisory capacity. So far, only the European Parliament is directly elected by citizens. Moreover, these international parliamentary assemblies should get real powers. In addition, there also need to be procedures in place that allow for a judicial review of these organizations and their actions or inactions. Lastly, but certainly not least, there should be effective ways for NGOs and civil society to participate.
Promotion of democracy at the national level
International organizations may be influential in promoting democracy at the national level. We can label this the ‘external lever’, i.e. methods that these international organizations can take to activate democracy within nations (including imposition, good example, socialization and conditionality).
Within this context
- imposition refers to using military intervention to overthrow authoritarian governments;
- example refers to using the successes demonstrated within democratic countries to illustrate the benefits of democracy to non-democratic states;
- socialization refers to the possibility of nations with different institutions to learn from each other, especially when democratic countries interact with countries in transition towards democracy;
- conditionality refers to urging authoritarian states to implement democratization via punishments and rewards.
International organizations may use positive conditionality to promote democracy e.g. through setting aside funds to foster democratic governance and sustain democratic reforms. The United Nations Democracy Fund is an illustration of this approach.
Furthermore, as far as socialization is concerned, international organizations may provide a platform for socialization and offer capacity building and training to help transform the internal structures and systems of transitioning countries (e.g. via training of police, the judiciary and other law enforcement authorities).
International organizations may also play a significant role when outgoing autocratic governments are concerned, i.e. by providing a safe framework that helps guarantee outgoing governments and the opposition a non-violent transition.