Towards a World Domestic Policy

According to Jürgen Habermas, the principle of popular sovereignty is about to be transformed into a law for the citizens of the world. Partly this is due to the non-institutionalized form of human rights politics, which has lead to the creation of political institutions above the nation state. Partly it is due to globalisation that challenges the autonomy and sovereignty of the nation-state. Politico-judicial bodies on the supra-national level are required in order to catch up with economic globalisation and to secure impartial law enforcement in cases of human rights violations. Consistent with the discourse-theoretical reconstruction of international relations there is a tension between international law’s recognition of sovereign states and the regulative idea of equal rights for all, which is reflected in an actual opposition between democracy and law, and between foreign and domestic policy. The autonomy of the state is being undermined by international human rights politics, due to the taming of the will power of the nation state. Hence there is a cosmopolitan law in the making.