It is widely assumed that the increasing disfunctions of democratic regimes could be fixed internally, i.e. within the realm of government. Today we know that this is an illusion. Democratic governance can only be maintained and advanced within the wider realm of coming to grips with adjacent and often competing modes of societal order, i.e. the market and the community/society. The author first lists different challenges to democratic governance before addressing the question of how these challenges could be met with respect to each of the three dimensions in a way such that governability, legitimacy and accountability (GLA) reassume the character of a virtuous circle.

Task Force: Social Cohesion, Global Governance and the Future of Politics