Globalization and democracy: Lessons from Anna Hazare movement

Globalization has narrowed the scope of national government, because of the underlying philosophy of neo-liberalism. International organizations like WTO, IMF, WB override the sovereignty of national governments. This has created doubts about the future of democracy. Proponents of globalization see no threat to democracy or to national government. They feel that globalization needs better governance and this can be achieved through a multitude of organizations like NGOS, INGOS, international institutes like WTO, WB and civil society, free press and the multinational corporations. Anna Hazare's movement against corruption has opened a debate, parliamentary democracy versus civil society. In this paper, an attempt is made to study the transformation of democracy under the process of globalization, with special reference to Anna's movement against corruption.