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Abstract
The current structure of the international legal system is state-centric. An outflow of the international system's state-centrism is that it separates national populations from one another, preventing them from communicating directly with one another. In this thesis, this separation is referred to as a "bifurcation."
The thesis first determines what the design goals are, namely: to establish a democratic international institution that would (1) preserve the cultural autonomy of nations; and (2) lift the bifurcation that separates national populations from one another. The thesis then turns its attention to seeking a model of democracy that would likely address these design goals. The thesis concludes that the general model that possesses the greatest potential to address these design goals, while also generally providing inspiration toward the design of international democracy, is Jurgen Habermas' public deliberation model.
After selecting the public deliberation model, the thesis commences its design of an international democratic institution called the "National Global Assembly". The thesis proposes establishing an NGA in each nation-state. Each NGA creates international law(s) for the nation where it is located. In the NGA, there are representatives from all nations of the world. Each representative serves two nations---the nation she is from and another. And so, to become a representative a person is expected to win an election that links both nations. In other words, the eligible voters of both nations elect a single candidate to represent their mutual needs in the NGA. In greater depth, I will explore framework questions concerning NGAs' voting processes, notably: how representatives are elected; who votes; how the winner is determined; how many times there are votes; and how many nations are represented in a given NGA. The thesis will also explore how the NGA preserves national autonomy, while also eliminating the bifurcation. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
