International Law and Domestic Governance: Towards a Minimum Democratic Standard ?

The starting point of the research project is the debate on democratic legitimacy in international law, an issue which has gained significant interest in recent years, especially among American legal scholars. The basic hypothesis is that a so-called "minimum democratic standard" is emerging in international law and that this standard increasingly sets out a legal blueprint for the validation of domestic governance. The scientific objective of the project is to identify this international "minimum democratic standard" and to clarify its normative scope and content. Apart from exploring the possible normative foundations of the emerging minimum democratic standard in international law, the project aims to analyse the instruments and mechanisms that have been established so far by States and, in particular, international organisations in order to affirm and promote democratic principles at the global and/or regional level. The basic questions that will be addressed are: Which principles and norms can be deduced from existing legal and quasi-legal documents, recent State practice and the practice of international organisations to foster democratic governance? Is there a common denominator that actually qualifies as constituting a minimum democratic standard in international law? The project will be carried out at the Center for International Studies of the New York University School of Law in four consecutive time-periods between September 2002 and August 2003. Additional short-term research visits to the headquarter of the United Nations in New York, the Organisation of American States in Washington D.C. and the Chapman University in California will also be part of the research schedule.