Author: Jan W. van Deth
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136498664
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 375
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Book Description
This book examines citizen engagement in contemporary democratic politics and the development of new participatory forms. Based on empirical information gathered from citizens, activists and organizations, it examines the changing face of democratic participation. Advanced democracies are ‘plagued’ by the complex problem of basing political decisions on the active engagement of citizens and citizens’ organisations. Although the benefits of an active citizenry appear great, the reality is that most citizens positively embrace a relatively marginal role in organised politics. The conventional activist –citizens as active members engaged in voluntary associations and collective decision-making – seems to be replaced by passive supporters and donors or ephemeral or episodic democratic participators. This volume aims to address several issues at the core of this transformation: the rise of checkbook participation, the growing attractiveness of individualized forms of participation, and the increasing relevance of professional expertise. Looking beyond the traditional single focus on participation or on organizations in isolation, the book innovatively examines the empirical link that can be established between actual developments in democratic participations and the organizational framework in European countries. New Participatory Dimensions in Civil Society is essential reading for students and scholars of democracy, participation, civil society, politics and sociology.
Author: Nigel Martin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789332701496
Category : Civil society
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
In order to democratize governance at the global level, it is imperative to ensure that the voice of ordinary citizens, especially the most excluded, are heard and acted upon. What forms of direct citizen engagement in the arenas, platforms and mechanisms of global governance can promote this? Which of these forms and processes can be institutionalized? What mechanisms of democratic accountability can be enabled to make representative forms of global governance institutions accountable to the citizens of their own countries? Global Governance, Civil Society and Participatory Democracy: A View from Below answers these questions through the experiences of FIM Forum for Democratic Global Governance in democratizing certain arenas and spaces of global governance. Such arenas are not only the powerful and global multilateral organizations of the UN system; they include supraregional intergovernmental organizations such as the Commonwealth, the OIF, the OIC, as well as the G8, G20, and BRICS. The book is a must read for all those engaged in facilitating, scaling-up, and strengthening the mechanisms of participatory democracy in order to create global citizens who become agents of change for a better world.
Author: Donatella Della Porta
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199678405
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 865
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Book Description
The Handbook presents a most updated and comprehensive exploration of social movement research. It not only maps, but also expands the field of social movement studies, taking stock of recent developments in cognate areas of studies, within and beyond sociology and political science. While structured around traditional social movement concepts, each section combines the mapping of the state of the art with attempts to broaden our knowledge of social movements beyond classic theoretical agendas, and to identify the contribution that social movement studies can give to other fields of knowledge.
Author: Kateřina Vráblíková
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131722650X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 238
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Book Description
The broad expansion of non-electoral political participation is considered one of the major changes in the nature of democratic citizenship in the 21st century. Most scholars – but also governments, transnational and subnational political institutions, and various foundations – have adopted the notion that contemporary democratic societies need a more politically active citizenry. Yet, contemporary democracies widely differ in the extent to which their citizens get involved in politics beyond voting. Why is political activism other than voting flourishing in the United States, but is less common in Britain and almost non-existent in post-communist countries like Bulgaria? The book shows that the answer does not lie in citizen’s predispositions, social capital or institutions of consensual democracy. Instead, the key to understanding cross-country differences in political activism beyond voting rests in democratic structures that combine inclusiveness and contestation. What Kind of Democracy? is the first book to provide a theoretically driven empirical analysis of how different types of democratic arrangements affect individual participation in non-electoral politics.
Author: Hans Peter Hansen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317299558
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
This book presents theoretical discussions and practical examples of Action Research from Scandinavia, Latin America and Africa, primarily dealing with how to combine nature conservation and management with local democratic community development, seeing the renewal of Commons as a way to transcend the present dichotomy between these two dimensions.
Author: Nicole Bolleyer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198884435
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 337
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Book Description
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. In Civil Society's Democratic Potential, Nicole Bolleyer explores which civil society organizations (CSOs) contribute to democracy, how, and why. Organized civil society, including interest groups, political parties, and service-oriented associations, is traditionally considered a cornerstone of democracy. Constituting the organizational fabric between government and society, these organizations encompass a wide diversity of entities thought to fundamentally contribute to both democratic participation and representation. However, CSOs' readiness and ability to serve as venues for participation, vehicles of democratic representation, or indeed both at the same time, are increasingly questioned in political science, sociology, and voluntary sector research alike. Bringing those fields together, the author argues that two contrasting organizational templates - the 'voluntary association' and the 'professionalized voluntary organization' - allow theorizing fundamental trade-offs shaping CSOs' 'performance' on three dimensions accounting for their varying democratic contributions: participation, representation, and societal responsiveness. The study's innovative theoretical framework is examined using a mixed-methods design. The latter combines the analysis of survey data covering over 3000 CSOs across four European democracies with qualitative case studies of the evolution of three CSOs - a political party, an interest group, and a service-orientated organization - over several decades.
Author: Thomas Poguntke
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317611578
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279
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Book Description
Democracies are transforming worldwide, but at the same time political inequality is increasing. This development threatens to leave growing portions of mass publics effectively ‘outside’ the political process. This volume brings together leading authorities in the field of democratic citizenship and participation to address pertinent questions concerning the quality of the democratic political process at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Analysing causes and consequences of recent developments in democratic governance and citizenship, it contributes new and original research to the ongoing debate on the crisis of representative democracy. The contributors deal with a broad range of issues including aspects of democratic citizenship and citizens' perceptions of system performance, political inequality and the democratic impact of participatory innovations. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students in democratization studies, democratic citizenship, comparative politics, political sociology and political participation.
Author: Darren Halpin
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137514310
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231
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Book Description
This volume summarizes the origins and development of the organization ecology approach to the study of interest representation and lobbying, and outlines an agenda for future research. Multiple authors from different countries and from different perspectives contribute their analysis of this research program.
Author: Randma-Liiv, Tiina
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1800374364
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320
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Book Description
This is an open access title available under the terms of a [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. Exploring academic and policy thinking on e-participation, this book opens up the organizational and institutional 'black box' and provides new insights into how public administrations in 15 European states have facilitated its implementation.
Author: José M. Magone
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317628357
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1275
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Book Description
Since the Treaty of the European Union was ratified in 1993, the European Union has become an important factor in an ever-increasing number of regimes of pooled sovereignty. This Handbook seeks to present a valuable guide to this new and unique system in the twenty-first century, allowing readers to obtain a better understanding of the emerging multilevel European governance system that links national polities to Europe and the global community. Adopting a pan-European approach, this Handbook brings together the work of leading international academics to cover a wide range of topics such as: the historical and theoretical background the political systems and institutions of both the EU and its individual member nations political parties and party systems political elites civil society and social movements in European politics the political economy of Europe public administration and policy-making external policies of the EU. This is an invaluable and comprehensive resource for students, scholars, researchers and practitioners of the European Union, European politics and comparative politics.
