The Democratic Spirit of Law PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download The Democratic Spirit of Law PDF full book. Access full book title The Democratic Spirit of Law by Dominique Schnapper. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Dominique Schnapper
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351483889
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 206
Get Book Here
Book Description
In this major new work, Dominique Schnapper continues her investigation into changes in contemporary democracy. Although she concentrates on the French example, The Democratic Spirit of Law concerns all democratic societies.Schnapper warns against the danger of corrupting the "principles," as defined by Montesquieu, on which democracy is based. If democracy becomes "extreme," all its founding principles risk being corrupted. Respect for institutions is necessary for freedom to be effective. Furthermore, if democrats cease to distinguish between facts and values, religion and politics, politics and the judiciary, knowledge and opinion, and knowledge and intuition, they will sink into absolute relativism or a nihilism that threatens the very values on which democratic society is based.By pointing out the danger of corruption inherent in the democratic promise of freedom, equality, and happiness, the author provides intellectual weapons not only to understand, but also to defend democracy, the only system in history, despite its limits and failures, that has humanely organized human societies. Democracy's future depends on citizens' preservation of the founding spirit of the democratic order: recognition of others, and free, reasonable, and controlled criticism of legitimate institutions.
Author: Filip Spagnoli
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Press
ISBN: 1904303269
Category : Democracy
Languages : en
Pages : 571
Get Book Here
Book Description
Part Two: The economy
Author: Dominique Schnapper
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351483870
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Get Book Here
Book Description
In this major new work, Dominique Schnapper continues her investigation into changes in contemporary democracy. Although she concentrates on the French example, The Democratic Spirit of Law concerns all democratic societies.Schnapper warns against the danger of corrupting the "principles," as defined by Montesquieu, on which democracy is based. If democracy becomes "extreme," all its founding principles risk being corrupted. Respect for institutions is necessary for freedom to be effective. Furthermore, if democrats cease to distinguish between facts and values, religion and politics, politics and the judiciary, knowledge and opinion, and knowledge and intuition, they will sink into absolute relativism or a nihilism that threatens the very values on which democratic society is based.By pointing out the danger of corruption inherent in the democratic promise of freedom, equality, and happiness, the author provides intellectual weapons not only to understand, but also to defend democracy, the only system in history, despite its limits and failures, that has humanely organized human societies. Democracy's future depends on citizens' preservation of the founding spirit of the democratic order: recognition of others, and free, reasonable, and controlled criticism of legitimate institutions.
Author: Alessandro Ferrara
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107035511
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Get Book Here
Book Description
Alessandro Ferrara explains what he terms 'the democratic horizon' and reviews the challenges under which democracies must operate.
Author: Eduardo Nolla
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814757782
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240
Get Book Here
Book Description
This volumes explores the whole range of Alexis Tocqueville's ideas, from his political, literary and sociological theories to his concept of history, his religious beliefs, and his philosophical doctrines. Among the topics considered are: Tocqueville's beliefs about foreign policy as applied to American democracy; Tocqueville and Machiavelli on the art of being free; Tocqueville and the historical sociology of state; virtue and politics in Tocqueville; Tocqueville's debt to Rousseau and Pascal; Tocqueville's analysis of the role of religion in preserving American democracy; Tocqueville and American literary critics; and Tocqueville and the postmodern refusal of history. The different approaches to Tocqueville's classical work represented in this book, combined with the frequent use of unpublished sources, present a fresh and renewed vision of his classic Democracy in America, reinforcing after a century and a half its reputation as the most modern, provocative, and profound attempt to explain the nature of democracy. Contributing to the volume are: Pierre Birnbaum (University of Sorbonne), Herbert Dittgen (University of Goettingen), Joseph Alulis (Lake Forest College), Dalmacio Negro (Universidad Complutense, Madrid), Peter A. Lawler (Berry College), Catherine Zuckert (Carleton College), Francesco de Sanctis (Naples University), Hugh Brogan (University of Essex), Cushing Strout (Cornell University), Gisela Schlueter (Universitaet Hannover), Roger Boesche (Occidental College), Edward T. Gargan (University of Wisconsin), and James T. Schleifer (College of New Rochelle).
Author: Peter Marden
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317040848
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Get Book Here
Book Description
What do we value as a political virtue? What are the core values of democracy in the modern era? What is a democratic culture and can it coexist with a predatory capitalist corporatism? Is democracy just about human rights? What is the nature of public dissent? These are some of the questions posed in this book as Peter Marden extends debates on democracy by critically examining the key role of values often associated with neo-liberalism and the traditions of thought concerning public conceptions of democratic life. Within the volume various normative arguments from prominent political theorists are addressed, particularly those associated with deliberative approaches to the study of contemporary democracy. Marden is motivated by an interest in the language and spirit of democracy as a values-based culture not solely driven by technocratic devices but a genuine reframing of the values necessary to underpin any peculiar democratic practice. Throughout the book examples are taken from the Australian, United Kingdom, and United States democratic experience post-9/11 to explore the dimensions of democratic culture, the nuanced tensions between the individual as an autonomous reflective subject and conceptions of the common good.
Author: Dominique Schnapper
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351496085
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Get Book Here
Book Description
Democracy posits the universality of the equality principle: a community of citizens is governed by the principle of the formal equality of all individuals, whatever their real social, cultural, or other inequalities. Democratization, on the other hand, is motivated by the ambition of ensuring the real equality of citizens, and not simply their formal equality. The dynamics of democracy are thus insured by the development of a welfare state that increasingly intervenes in order to satisfy the social and economic needs of individuals. Especially focused on France, yet informed by the experiences of other European countries, this book examines the dilemmas of the search for equality in society and politics.Democratization guarantees the rights of salaried workers and employees, the rights to material survival and housing, as well as health care, education, and culture. Today, however, as Schnapper observes, its action has become paradoxical. As the fruit of a praiseworthy concern to ensure the universality of rights, what Schnapper identifies as a "Providence State" now aims, by means of positive discrimination and other specific promotion policies, to defend the particular rights of certain categories of individuals. The action of the Providence State thus nourishes an aspiration: that the identities of historical collectivities gathered within the same national society be publicly recognized, and that these have rights. Equity thus supplants equality; and multiculturalism, universality. Such is the ordeal currently experienced by Western democracies, which are faced with the increasingly "providential" nature of their societies. Indeed, the author asks, how can a united political Europe be constructed on the ideals and institutions of citizenship, when European nations are becoming providential democracies?Providential Democracy offers a searching and timely critique of democratization that will be of interest to sociologists, political sci
Author: Cesare Cuttica
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192866095
Category : Democracy
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Get Book Here
Book Description
Anti-democracy in England 1570-1642 is a detailed study of anti-democratic ideas in early modern England. By examining the rich variety of debates about democracy that took place between 1570 and 1642, it shows the key importance anti-democratic language held in the late Tudor and early Stuart periods. In particular, it argues that anti-democratic critiques were addressed at 'popular government' as a regime that empowered directly and fully the irrational, uneducated, dangerous commonalty; it explains why and how criticism of democracy was articulated in the contexts here under scrutiny; and it demonstrates that the early modern era is far more relevant to the development of democratic concepts and practices than has hitherto been acknowledged. The study of anti-democracy is carried out through a close textual analysis of sources often neglected in the history of political thought and by way of a contextual approach to Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline history. Most importantly, the study re-evaluates the role of religion and cultural factors in the history of democracy and of political ideas more generally. The point of departure is at a time when the establishment and Presbyterians were at loggerheads on pivotal politico-ecclesiastical and theoretical matters; the end coincides with the eruption of the Civil Wars. Cesare Cuttica not only places the unexplored issue of anti-democracy at the centre of historiographical work on early modern England, but also offers a novel analysis of a precious portion of Western political reflection and an ideal platform to discuss the legacy of principles that are still fundamental today.
Author: Giorgio Agamben
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 023115299X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 146
Get Book Here
Book Description
"Is it meaningful to call oneself a democrat? And if so, how do you interpret the word?" In responding to this question, eight iconoclastic thinkers prove the rich potential of democracy, along with its critical weaknesses, and reconceive the practice to accommodate new political and cultural realities. Giorgio Agamben traces the tense history of constitutions and their coexistence with various governments. Alain Badiou contrasts current democratic practice with democratic communism. Daniel Bensaid ponders the institutionalization of democracy, while Wendy Brown discusses the democratization of society under neoliberalism. Jean-Luc Nancy measures the difference between democracy as a form of rule and as a human end, and Jacques Rancière highlights its egalitarian nature. Kristin Ross identifies hierarchical relationships within democratic practice, and Slavoj Zizek complicates the distinction between those who desire to own the state and those who wish to do without it. Concentrating on the classical roots of democracy and its changing meaning over time and within different contexts, these essays uniquely defend what is left of the left-wing tradition after the fall of Soviet communism. They confront disincentives to active democratic participation that have caused voter turnout to decline in western countries, and they address electoral indifference by invoking and reviving the tradition of citizen involvement. Passionately written and theoretically rich, this collection speaks to all facets of modern political and democratic debate.
Author: David Wiles
Publisher:
ISBN: 1009197576
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 252
Get Book Here
Book Description
Democracy, argues David Wiles, is actually a form of theatre. In making his case, the author deftly investigates orators at the foundational moments of ancient and modern democracy, demonstrating how their performative skills were used to try to create a better world. People often complain about demagogues, or wish that politicians might be more sincere. But to do good, politicians (paradoxically) must be hypocrites - or actors. Moving from Athens to Indian independence via three great revolutions - in Puritan England, republican France and liberal America - the book opens up larger questions about the nature of democracy. When in the classical past Plato condemned rhetoric, the only alternative he could offer was authoritarianism. Wiles' bold historical study has profound implications for our present: calls for personal authenticity, he suggests, are not an effective way to counter the rise of populism.
Author: David E. Kiwuwa
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136317554
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book offers an examination of how a deeply divided post-conflict society embarks on democratic transition. Using Rwanda as the case study, it combines analysis of democratic transition and ethnopolitical debate, asking why deeply divided ethnic societies have a tendency to fail. Though marginalised in existing literature on democratic transition, this path-breaking book shows how ethnicity has a significant impact on the direction and success of democratic process. The initial failure of democratic transition in Rwanda shows that the current regime will need to be sensitive to ethnicity, ethnopolitical consciousness and mobility in order to be successful in its second transition attempt. Based on key informant interviews, participant observation and primary resources, this book develops beyond the case study of Rwanda to posit a new framework that integrates variables of unity, equality, trust and institutional engineering in an integrative model to study and evaluate democratic transition in divided or post-conflict society. Ethnic Politics and Democratic Transition in Rwanda will be of interest to students and scholars of democratization, democracy, and ethnic politics and conflict.
