Moreover, the system itself implies problematic features for the pursuit of democracy as the constitution of the rule by the people, or self-governance. Liberalism, as the philosophy behind twentieth-century nation-states, is acknowledged to grant political equality on the one hand, but also to bring about economic and societal inequality on the other hand (Phillips, 2006). Furthermore, a representative democracy goes hand in hand with the exclusion of those not represented, as the idea is that the people is the sovereign that confers legislative and executive powers to representative bodies (Held, 2006).