The publication contains a collection of research papers written during the last decade and reflecting on the major changes before and after the end of the East-West conflict. The papers deal with the basic concept of democracy and its application in the international system. The author bases his theoretical approach on the Kantian concept of the autonomous subject. He relates direct democracy to this philosophical and anthropological conception of the subject as a sovereign being. He attempts to create a new (alternative) doctrine of international relations and of international law on the basis of this philosophical assumption.