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is preventing democracy to become more inclusive? Why are there groups excluded from
democratic processes? Habermas’ discourse theory on the importance of mutual understanding finds
more and more supporters from the current debate at the European level. Supporters of individualism
and relativism answer to this questions forwarding the principle of selfdetermination. This essay
analyzes this argument, arguing that selfdetermination is per se a movement of unification and
separation, already described by Empedocles, that at different stages makes individuals pares (equals)
and, in a second moment, tears them away. This second movement is the most interesting because it has
been often used by political elites as a justification to adopt policies of exclusion against groups labeled
as minorities (or enemies). Thus, there is a long list of current political clichè forwarded nowadays such
as: “more privileges for immigrants= more taxes for citizens” or “taxpayers’ money to pay the bills of
lazy people” which are narrowing more and more the political debate at global and local level.
Therefore, this essay promotes the idea that minority rights are strongly linked to the credibility of human
rights as universal. One of the main problems which are mining the credibility of current democracy
worldwide is represented by the absence of a substantial protection of minority rights. In this view only
the promotion of human rights towards the hostis, in Latin meaning both enemy and guest, may realize
people’s will and need to become part of the same human family.
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Introduction
No longer are we living of illusions.
Plato splits the world in two sides: the upper is dwelt by few egalitarian citizens, called philosophers,
who live in the light of the sun and the knowledge of the Good. The rest of humanity is excluded from
happiness and lives inside a crowded cave filled with mere illusions.1 Aristotle’s world is organized in
democratic poleis, ruled with phronesis by many citizens, while what is remaining outside the cities is
dwelt only by gods and beasts. Machiavelli’s world is organized in states, called principati, where their
citizens live safe and sound from external threats, yet protected by the rule of champions called
Principi. In Hobbes’ world nothing is longer allowed to exist outside civil society; people surrendered
their sovereignty to a common power, the State, called Leviathan. Thous, Illusions, Gods, Beasts and
Principi were no longer permitted to be.
PART I.
Divide et Impera
The works of philosophers, lawyers and politicians are meant to realize the status quo2 where people
may live in peace and prosperity. On the other hand, the need for any peaceful and prosperous status
quo is required by the ruling elite to maintain unthread its authority and dominion over their followers.
1
Plato, Republic, Book VII. This sketch has been formulated in the light of the “theory of knowledge” presented at
the end of Book VI (509D513E), where Plato describes the visible world of perceived physical objects and the images
we make of them.
2
We remark the use of “the” as if definitive and ultime search of universal solution to preserve peace and
stability
2
The former does not exclude the latter. Juvenal’s metaphor panem et circenses (bread and games)
conveys together these two aspects. A successful lasting maintenance of peace and prosperity could be
easily preserved in the roman republic through diversion and distraction. The adoption of legal means,
the socalled lex frumentaria, granted both the populus romanus and the ruling elite peaceful
coexistence. Yet, Juvenal’s satire is showing to his readers the struggle of the latter to be unmatched in
any decisional process by the former, excluding de facto the possibility to adopt exemplary or excellent
public service or public policy. Furthermore, it can be noticed that until the Modern era, which
historians start with the publications of works of Descartes and Hobbes, a common element seems to
stand out: the presence of an act of exclusion, which is conducted by a group against one or more
groups. Either the act of exclusion could be directed towards people belonging to the same ResPublica,
as in the time of Juvenal, either it could be against an undefined external group, as in case of Machiavelli.
To delineate the deepest reasons of this trend goes beyond the raison d'etre of this essay, but the
present paper suggests that, in an integrated society, any deliberate political act of division (majority vs
minority, universal vs relative etc) has the outcome to create a status of exclusion.
From a philosophical point of view, the radical danger which an act of exclusion may trigger among
individuals is represented by the rise up of feelings of frustration, anger and exasperation among whom
perceives himself as excluded. This negative process may end up to trigger acts of violence, conflicts
and wars. These implications were wellknown to the ancient Greeks, who start the chain of facts
leading to the Trojan war with an act of exclusion.3
From a political point of view, the processes such as division, hierarchization and categorization do not
bring per se any moral implication, yet a deliberate act of division triggers the radical danger to start an
implicit moral exclusion de facto. The political use of division brings to the creation of a new “Group
Identity” of the individual; a group identity which is perceived as a “whole” and “universal”; group
identity which is the empty framework that may be filled in a second moment with universal and rightful
values represented4 by the ruling elite. The concept of “barbarous” can be a good example: at the
3
The Trojan War has its roots in the marriage between Peleus and Thetis, a seagoddess. Peleus and Thetis had not
invited Eris, the goddess of discord, to their marriage and the outraged goddess stormed into the wedding banquet
and threw a golden apple onto the table. The apple belonged to, Eris said, whomever was the fairest.
http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/history.html
4
we want to higlight the fact that a ruling elite seldom produces a new policy. Mostly it repeats “re” the
presenation of same values which are old. As the case of “race” which hides in the meaning of “culture”.
3
beginning the term was commonly used in the ancient Greek society to identify a different linguistic
group, yet it became under the Roman empire a powerful political weapon to identify and characterize
the enemy. Barbarians were excluded from Rome civilization, their status was less than slaves, less than
human.
PART II.
Promoveatur ut Amoveatur
The current trend of global politics can be described with the constant presence of a depersonalized
enemy which continuously sieges and threats the freedom and security of individuals. A Person, in Latin,
indicates the mask used by actors during the plays, in Shakespeare words, All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players. Yet the political use of depersonalization implies,
among many other aspects, that 1) any human is represented by being mere monad and 2) is deprived
of adjuncts like name, cultural tradition and public recognition; anyone in this conditions is described as
a threat to the ruling elite, the public security and is a perfect player to personify the enemy. The
boogieman’s description may recall the personality of the enemy in this sense. Under this logic the media
are announcing the decisions of States to adopt aggressive stances against the “anonymous” terrorism
and the “acephalous” power of economics, which represents the immense flow of capitals moving from
one region to another thus deciding the fortune of thousands of families. In presenting their actions and
decisions, ruling elites seek to fulfill all the three requirements argued by San Thomas:
There are three requisites for a war to be just. […] The first thing is the authority of the prince
by whose command the war is to be waged. […] The second requisite is a just cause, so that they
who are assailed should deserve to be assailed for some fault that they have committed. […] The
third thing requisite is a right intention of promoting good or avoiding evil.
Conflicts are a matter of Power, and the Power is an autonomous entity which wears out those that
don't have it. Modern philosophers, lawyers and politicians are directing nowadays their efforts
towards reaching a consensus on which institution(s) shall hold the Power of promoting good or
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avoiding evil, in modern terms, to adopt a good governance. If until the World War I this power was
owned by ruling elites representing States whose right to control people living within their territories was
supreme, the internationalization of politics brought up a logic where the absolute power played by elites
became weaker and weaker. This inflection of the rule of the State brought many modern scholars,
especially during the 1990's, to argue that sooner its role of leader and champion of civil society would
be taken by international organization such as European Union, the United Nations or the World Trade
Organization.
Nonetheless, whether States or international organization may be the rightful holder of the Power in the
future, at least a general consensus has been reached so far. Almost all scholars delineate democracy as
the most effective form of good governance. Although it has been argued that democracy is a classic
example of an “essentially contested” concept, most of scholars identify two main pillars on which
democracy is based: the first column is represented by popular sovereignty, while the second is
collective decision making, in which rulers are held accountable by those they rule. During the UN
General Assembly in 2000, head of states recognized “their collective responsibility to uphold the
principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level”. Also Landman assesses the quality
of democracy by identifying two principles, popular control and political equality, among which seven
mediating values are grounded: participation, authorization, representation, accountability, transparency,
responsiveness and solidarity.5
In 2002 the UN Development Program Report titled “Deepening democracy in a fragmented world”
opens its overview with this paramount consideration: “politics matter to human development because
people everywhere want to be free to determine their destinies, express their views and participate in
decisions that shape their lives”. Democracy is the only political regime (at today’s acknowledgment)
that advances development and allows humans to choose their lives in larger freedom. In this light was
presented the European motto “united in diversity”. While in Aristotle’s theory the polis/state was
governed by the many, thus adopting the principle of exclusion, the UNDP report underlines that
democracy shall not be only practiced by few elites “but rather be a set of principles and core values
that allow poor people to gain power through participation while protecting them from arbitrary,
5
Helgesen, V. ‘Pathways for Women in Democratic Transitions International Experiences and Lessons Learned’,
Roundtable, Cairo 2 June 2011, Stockholm, IDEA, p.5
5
unaccountable actions in their lives by governments, multinational corporations and other forces”, adding
that “increased pluralism in global politics has been aided by new forms of collaboration between
governments and civil society groups”. The UNDP reports are of paramount importance because the
message conveyed is to create a definition of demos that includes all actors at the international stage. In
2013 the report is even more clear by indicating that “the fundamental principles of human development
remain crucial. As ever, the aim to expand choices and capabilities to all people, wherever they live”.
Part III
Dura Lex sed Lex
Democratization, as a consequence, does not suffer per se glocalization, which is the consequence of
two different tendencies. The trend of global unification is represented by globalization, while separation
is conveyed in its countertrend called localization. Graham Harrison, in his essay “why Economic
Globalization is not enough” recalls Keith Griffin (2003) approaches required to deal with issues of
inequality at a global level, forwarding two agendas: the democratization of global governance and a
reinvigorated economic liberalization. Harrison is calling for a multilayered system where “the
architecture of global governance must be opened up to popular classes of all states in order to provide
a complex set of constituencies that would enable the disciplining of large and centralized forms of
international capital” Of similar advice, but on the side of the rule of law, is Clapham. In his book “The
Role of the Individual in International Law” he argues that whether a progress in international law would
be possible, it shall be a progress that would bring individuals to be subjects of international civil law
obligations.
The international institutions taking decisions on which rules shall be implemented at the global level are
the most affecting people’s lives as much as shaping national one. The G8, WTO, IMF, World bank or
the UN Security Council are perceived by people with feelings of haste due a hopeless and continuous
submission to their dictates. Such feelings find expression within the manifestations which most of times
are violently repressed by security forces protecting such institutions. On the other hand, the most
representative international organizations, such as ECOSOC and the UN General Assembly, are the
least effective and most powerless. Still, there had been attempts for making global institutions more
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democratic. The process of real democratization can be seen within the attempt of Kofi Annan to make
all acts of UN in conformity with human rights. In March 2005 he publishes “In larger Freedom”:
Decision time at the UN, where he describes his view for reforming the UN thus to create a “collective
security system [...] while also promoting human rights, democracy and development”. The message
conveyed by Kofi Annan was to regulate each action of the UN, either represented by its Security
Council, either by the General Assembly, to be in full accordance with the principles of democratization
and human rights. To fill the gap between words and actions, the UN published in 2007 a guide titled
“Good governance practices for the protection of human rights” that summarize eight crosscutting
lessons “among which they show that facilitating public access to information can be a powerful strategy
to improve public spending and contribute to better realization of economic and social rights.” At a more
local level, after the failure of a constitutional treaty in May 2005, the European Commission launches in
October the “Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate as a foundation for a debate on the future of
the European Union”. As Habermas pointed out in 2012 during his lecture in Leuven, “still a gulf
remained at the EU’s level between the people’s opinion and willformation, on one hand, and the
policies actually adopted to solve the pressing problems, on the other”. Well aware of the existence of
this gap, the Council of Europe adopted in its foreign action in 2012 a strategic Framework on human
rights democracy “to improve the effectiveness and consistency of EU policy as a whole in the next ten
years”. At a more local level, O’Connell notices that a strategy to strengthen democracy in Europe
could be adopted by using the Strasbourg Court, which is beginning to recognize some participatory
measures as the requirement of consultation, notably the right to “be heard”. In this light it shall not
surprise the proposals of Martin Schulz, who is candidate to succeed José Manuel Barroso at the head
of the Commission, to hand the Commission’s presidency to the leader of the party that wins the
European elections.
Conclusive remarks
This essay argues that there are universal laws governing humanity. These laws shall not be confused
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with rules applied by jurisprudence, philosophy or mechanics; these laws are Human Rights. Human
rights can be compared to numbers: they are valid anywhere, anytime and they express the same needs
of everyone, only their shape may differ from language to language. These different shapes may be
explained in the light of minority rights. Hostis, in Latin, means both enemy and guest.6 Minority has
been represented as the hostis to be fighted by States and International Organizations for the sake of
public security. If the UN adopted the International Humanitarian Law to protect the hostile enemy, it
left blank the page on the protection of the good guest, hostis. The adoption of a international
protection of minority rights may find in this argument a good starting point and it is going to be
developed in an ongoing publication. Yet, the lack of credibility on democratic processes is
represented by the absence of an effective protection of minority rights. The European promotion of
human rights would be exemplar and may institute the adoption of a brand new dialogue which may lead
to real integration. As much real as numbers are.
Bibliography
Andrew CLAPHAM, ‘The Role of the Individual in International Law’ (2010) European Journal of
International Law, pp. 25–30
Democracy and Development. Global Consultations on the EU's Role in Democracy Building,
6
See U. Curi, B. Giacomini, Xenos, Filosofia dello straniero, Il Poligrafo (2004).
8
Stockholm, IDEA
Helgesen, V. ‘Pathways for Women in Democratic Transitions International Experiences and Lessons
Learned’,Roundtable, Cairo 2 June 2011, Stockholm, IDEA.
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, ‘Democracy in Development: Global
consultations on the EU’s role in democracy building’ (2009)
Landman, T. (2009) Concepts matter: Delineating Democracy, Governance and Human Rights,
Stockholm, IDEA.
‘The Council of Europe: 800 million Europeans’
http://www.coe.int/AboutCoe/media/interface/publications/800_millions_en.pdf