Challenges and feasibility of a democratic global financial governance

Abstract

Considering a normative conception of democracy based on the values of autonomy and inclusiveness, there are many reasons to argue that a democratic global financial governance (GFG) is necessary. However, from an empirical approach, the democratization of GFG seems to be very hard to implement. Taking that into consideration, we discuss the challenges and the feasibility of a democratic GFG. We argue that both the skeptics' negative response and the positive one based on abstract premises are unsuited. A democratic GFG will only be feasible if its institutional framework has as reference a concept of democracy which is compatible with the complexity of this field, and a flexible design suitable for facing its multilevel democratic deficit. The BRICS, on the one hand, are key actors for GFG reforms. However, on the other hand, we face a very unfavorable political scenario to the thematization of the GFG democratization by the BRICS. The literature on this topic is vast, but there is a lack of comprehensive studies. We seek to fulfill this gap and, in addition to our own theoretical contribution, provide a framework for future specific empirical-normative research.