Abstract

Frank Cunningham discusses the idea that there is no universal form of democracy, in his contribution on MacPherson, “Globalization and developmental democracy”. Working at a time in which colonial attitudes had not yet been radically questioned, MacPherson analyzed the democratic potential of peoples that were, in Western eyes, still deemed too immature for self-government. MacPherson’s theoretical framework was particularly suited to such an endeavour, because his definition of democracy did not focus on narrow institutional characteristics. Democracy, according to MacPherson’s broader definition, designates a form of society that gives all individuals the opportunity to develop their “truly human potentials”