This paper aims to clarify the concept of multilateral democracy or demoi-cracy with its principles and to address several challenges to the theory . Under the conditions of globalisation and denationalisation, national states delegate several of their competencies to higher levels, i.e. to international and supranational institutions. Therefore the question of democratic legitimacy arises on that higher level. Following a transformationalist approach, which postulates the need for a transformation of the normative concept of democracy for the level beyond the state, the concept of multilateral democracy or demoi-cracy has been elaborated by different authors (Nicolaïdis 2004; Besson 2006; Bohman 2007; Cheneval 2007; Cheneval 2008; Cheneval forthcomming). Put briefly, multilateral democracy starts from the principles that the ‘sovereignty of the people’ in a democratic multinational polity is the joint sovereignty of citizens and communities (demoi) realized through interlinked procedures and multiple participations of citizens. This specific normative concept of multilateral democracy aims to integrate political equality of both citizens and communities. Considering this normative approach the question arises which specific principles the multilateral democracy demands and how the institutional design has to be constructed to fit this concept. Existing theories of multilateral democracy frame some of the principles for multilateral democracy, however they do not specify their implications for institutional application. This paper evaluates existing trans- or multilateral theories of democracy and aims to fill the theoretical gap of institutional design by build on the discussed principles. In particular questions of representation and of federal multilevel systems are discussed.
