ABSTRACT

Realism, nationalism and the civilization discourse are the dominant paradigms, together with liberal internationalism, for normatively interpreting international affairs. Although they rest on different axiological assumptions, they are here considered together here for two reasons: first, they all rely on a contextualist interpretation of the interaction-dependent theory of justice, and thus they limit the scope of applicability of the principle of justice to their political units of reference. Second and consequently, they are all against the idea of global democracy, fostering instead the principle of autonomy of their political units. In order to make a solid case for global democracy, these theories need to be carefully analyzed and challenged. That is the task of this chapter.