Globalizacija i problem političke legitimacije
Globalisation and the Issue of political Legitimation

Summary/Abstract: In this article, the author shows that the processes of globalisation cannot diminish the role of the nation state – as the sole recognizable political community – in the implementation and development of democracy, though they are undoubtedly going to alter its functioning and make it more complex. When exploring democracy and its expansion outside the borders of the nation state, we should keep in mind that people do not act solely on the rational-interest, basis but also on the basis of values, and that identities and not only interests, are the underlying determinants of their political activity. That is why the theory of cosmopolitan democracy must come to grips with the issue of the legitimation of the cosmopolitan political community and not only with the problem of the legitimation of the cosmopolitan democratic political system. This paper deals with the question of the legitimation of the political community and the dynamics of the legitimation of the political system. The analysis has shown that these are complex and open questions without which a valid discussion about the transnational political organizations and processes of the cosmopolitan or regional integration and democratisation is not possible. The question of the legitimation of the political community (unfortunately, rarely discussed) is in a way primordial in relation to the issue of the legitimation of the political system and political authorities. This issue gets neglected because it is thought that pluralism defines democracy; consequently, the imperative of a certain level of social and cultural homogeneity as a condition of its functioning has been overlooked. The concept of global citizenry requires the creation of a new political identity, while cosmopolitanism must prove that this identity can be brought about without the “democratic deficit” or without the “bureaucratic-oligarchic surplus”.

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