A growing body of literature highlights moral reasons for embracing global democracy. This literature justifies democracyudon the grounds of its intrinsic value. But democracy also has instrumental value: the rule of the many is epistemically superiorudto the rule of one or the rule of the few. I draw on the tradition of epistemic democracy to develop an instrumentalistudjustification for democratizing global governance. I develop an epistemic-democratic framework for evaluating political institutions—oneudcomposed of three principles. The likelihood of making correct decisions within institutions of global governanceudincreases when those institutions maximize (1) human development and capacity for participation; (2) their internaludcognitive diversity; and (3) public opportunities for sharing objective and subjective knowledge. Applying thisudframework to global governance produces a better understanding of the nature and extent of its “democratic deficit,” asudwell as the actions required to address this deficit.
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