IS THERE A HUMAN RIGHT TO DEMOCRACY?

THE ONGOING ISSUE…

Abstract

This paper will try to elaborate a very complex and fundamental question
which is seen not only as a challenging, but also as provocative.
Actually, the issue is like a “never ending story”. In political theory there
is an existence of divergent answers to the question “is there a human
right to democracy”? For example, the answer of Joshua Cohen is “no”,
but the answer of Pablo Gilabert, as well as the answer of contemporary
international law is “yes”. Although the right to democracy is not the
subject of complete consensus among theoreticians and politicians, it
could be stated that the contemporary tendency of its recognition in
international law and in the human rights political practice is more and
more visible. In some views and concepts, the human right to democracy
is understood as minimally egalitarian democracy on the basis of three
claims. The first claim is that there is strong moral justification for states
to realize minimally egalitarian democracy, i.e. to protect fundamental
human rights. Secondly, there is moral justification for the international
community to attempt to protect and promote these democracies, which
protect fundamental human rights. Finally, there is moral justification for
society to defend the rights of all its members. Could democracy be
protected as a human right, and if so would it not be paradoxical to do so
without or against the will of the people themselves?