Civil Society and Democracy in Global Governance
sticks of democracy. Effective governance is regulation that achieves not only efficiency and order, but also public participation and public accountability. In building governance for expanding global spaces in the contemporary world, technocratic criteria have to date received far more attention than democratic standards. This article addresses the more neglected side of the equation by exploring the potentials and lim itations of civil society as a force for democracy in global governance. What are the implications of civil society mobilization for democ racy in global governance? Many observers have celebrated the rise of global civic1 activism as a boon for democracy, while many others have decried it as a bane. Yet these assessments?both positive and nega tive?have tended to rest on little more than anecdote and prejudice. To be sure, recent years have brought important research on civil society and global governance.2 However, none of this work has focused pri marily, explicitly, and rigorously on the question of civil society and democracy in global governance. This article elaborates a possible framework of analysis and on this basis suggests that civil society activism offers significant possibilities to reduce the major democratic deficits that have grown during recent decades in the governance of global relations. Given this promise, these experiments in new forms of public participation, consultation, repre sentation, and accountability should be pursued further. However, the democratic benefits of civil society engagement of global governance do not flow automatically: they must be actively nurtured. Moreover,