Within the context of the socio-historical framework of globalization, this paper examines how aliens without documents experience democracy in Europe. In order to establish what is at stake, the author examines detention, the threat to human rights and to democracy as a system of government, drawing on empirical evidence as well as philosophical thinking. First the paper identifies the political elements of democracy and how detention—with its attendant deprivation of rights—changes a liberal democracy into a defensive one. The paper then turns to philosophical consideration. It presents an image of society entering a new phase—one of violence engendered by globalization—and challenges us to envisage a reformed political system sensitive to humanitarian needs.