ABSTRACT
When political scientists come up with new proposals for how to understand the international political order they are often met with scepticism. Not long ago, the cosmopolitan democratic theories that are taught today at most political science departments were, if not laughed at, at least looked upon with suspicion. It seems as if present political institutions, whatever 'present’, are always insufficient to tackle the political problems they were created to solve. And there is much to indicate that today’s present is not an exception. Although today’s national and global political institutions are questioned in diverging ways, there seems to be general agreement that they are insufficient.1 Some claim that they should be strengthened, others argue that they must be complemented or replaced with other political forms, associations and processes.
