In times in which processes of globalisation are widely debated and their legitimacy contested, understanding possibilities of democratic self-determination within and across multiple national, international, and transnational jurisdictions has become a challenge for democratic theory. Situated at the intersection of discourses on democracy, justice, and citizenship, democratic membership proves to be a key concept for addressing these questions.
Against this background, the paper asks about the possibilities and boundaries of multiplying democratic memberships from the perspective of democratic theory itself. It starts out from recent theoretical proposals for a future democratic order and develops its argument by reflecting on present debates about transnational and supranational citizenship. Sketching potential configurations of multiple memberships, it discusses how questions of territoriality shape our understanding of demoi and presents the concept of complementarity as a potentially fruitful perspective for future thinking about issues of memberships and their interrelations.
alternative section: “Citizenship: New Trends &Developments”
