Democratic Theory Today

Democratic Theory Today PDF Author: April Carter
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9780745621951
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, liberal democracy appears as the only valid form of democracy. Nonetheless, the well-established parliamentary regimes are facing serious threats to both their liberal and their democratic values. Among these threats are economic globalization and the growing assertion of cultural difference and nationalism. This book examines some key theoretical and practical problems for democracy today, such as the nature of citizenship and forms of inequality and exclusion based on poverty, gender and ethnic or cultural difference. It also explores the challenges posed by nationalism and by claims for group rights and indigenous autonomy. The authors discuss recent theoretical responses to the problems of political apathy and inequality, as well as globalization and identity politics. These various approaches accept the basic institutions of liberal democracy but look for ways of revitalizing political debate and participation, promoting greater equality and responding to the erosion of national sovereignty by global forces. Democratic Theory Today will provide a lively and accessible guide for students of political science, political theory and political philosophy. It will also be of interest to those engaged in current debates about democracy. .

Democratic Theory Today

Democratic Theory Today PDF Author: April Carter
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9780745621951
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, liberal democracy appears as the only valid form of democracy. Nonetheless, the well-established parliamentary regimes are facing serious threats to both their liberal and their democratic values. Among these threats are economic globalization and the growing assertion of cultural difference and nationalism. This book examines some key theoretical and practical problems for democracy today, such as the nature of citizenship and forms of inequality and exclusion based on poverty, gender and ethnic or cultural difference. It also explores the challenges posed by nationalism and by claims for group rights and indigenous autonomy. The authors discuss recent theoretical responses to the problems of political apathy and inequality, as well as globalization and identity politics. These various approaches accept the basic institutions of liberal democracy but look for ways of revitalizing political debate and participation, promoting greater equality and responding to the erosion of national sovereignty by global forces. Democratic Theory Today will provide a lively and accessible guide for students of political science, political theory and political philosophy. It will also be of interest to those engaged in current debates about democracy. .

The Real World of Democratic Theory

The Real World of Democratic Theory PDF Author: Ian Shapiro
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400836832
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
In this book Ian Shapiro develops and extends arguments that have established him as one of today's leading democratic theorists. Shapiro is hardheaded about the realities of politics and power, and the difficulties of fighting injustice and oppression. Yet he makes a compelling case that democracy's legitimacy depends on pressing it into the service of resisting domination, and that democratic theorists must rise to the occasion of fashioning the necessary tools. That vital agenda motivates the arguments of this book. Tracing modern democracy's roots to John Locke and the American founders, Shapiro shows that they saw more deeply into the dynamics of democratic politics than have many of their successors. Drawing on Lockean and Madisonian insights, Shapiro evaluates democracy's changing global fortunes over the past two decades. He also shows how elusive democracy can be by exploring the contrast between its successful establishment in South Africa and its failures elsewhere--particularly the Middle East. Shapiro spells out the implications of his account for long-standing debates about public opinion, judicial review, abortion, and inherited wealth--as well as more recent preoccupations with globalization, national security, and international terrorism. Scholars, students, and democratic activists will all learn from Shapiro's trenchant account of democracy's foundations, its history, and its contemporary challenges. They will also find his distinctive democratic vision both illuminating and appealing.

Digital Technology and Democratic Theory

Digital Technology and Democratic Theory PDF Author: Lucy Bernholz
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022674860X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
One of the most far-reaching transformations in our era is the wave of digital technologies rolling over—and upending—nearly every aspect of life. Work and leisure, family and friendship, community and citizenship have all been modified by now-ubiquitous digital tools and platforms. Digital Technology and Democratic Theory looks closely at one significant facet of our rapidly evolving digital lives: how technology is radically changing our lives as citizens and participants in democratic governments. To understand these transformations, this book brings together contributions by scholars from multiple disciplines to wrestle with the question of how digital technologies shape, reshape, and affect fundamental questions about democracy and democratic theory. As expectations have whiplashed—from Twitter optimism in the wake of the Arab Spring to Facebook pessimism in the wake of the 2016 US election—the time is ripe for a more sober and long-term assessment. How should we take stock of digital technologies and their promise and peril for reshaping democratic societies and institutions? To answer, this volume broaches the most pressing technological changes and issues facing democracy as a philosophy and an institution.

Open Democracy

Open Democracy PDF Author: Hélène Landemore
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691212392
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
To the ancient Greeks, democracy meant gathering in public and debating laws set by a randomly selected assembly of several hundred citizens. To the Icelandic Vikings, democracy meant meeting every summer in a field to discuss issues until consensus was reached. Our contemporary representative democracies are very different. Modern parliaments are gated and guarded, and it seems as if only certain people are welcome. Diagnosing what is wrong with representative government and aiming to recover some of the openness of ancient democracies, Open Democracy presents a new paradigm of democracy. Supporting a fresh nonelectoral understanding of democratic representation, Hélène Landemore demonstrates that placing ordinary citizens, rather than elites, at the heart of democratic power is not only the true meaning of a government of, by, and for the people, but also feasible and, more than ever, urgently needed. -- Cover page 4.

Theories of Democracy

Theories of Democracy PDF Author: Frank Cunningham
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134584954
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
This is the first book to be published in this exciting new series on political philosophy. Cunningham provides a critical and clear introduction to the main contemporary approaches to democracy: participatory democracy, classic and radical pluralism, deliberative democracy, catallaxy, and others. Also discussed are theorists in the background of current democratic thought, such as Tocqueville, Mill, and Rousseau. The book includes applications of democratic theories including an extended discussion of democracy and globalisation.

Democracy in Theory and Practice

Democracy in Theory and Practice PDF Author: Frederick G. Whelan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351205854
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 672

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Book Description
Democracy in Theory and Practice presents an authoritative overview of democratic theory today. Its distinctive approach links theory to practice, emphasizing the wide variety of institutions and procedures through which core democratic principles are implemented and the normative and practical dimensions of the choices to be made among these alternatives. Designed for courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level, the book features eighteen chapters organized thematically and divided into sections and subsections for easy reference; historical and current examples, citations for specific ideas, annotated references, and further readings throughout enhance the volume's utility for students, scholars, and researchers. Sidebars give biographical sketches of classic theorists and democratic ideas from the US founders and constitutional tradition. Featured topics discussed include: Majority Rule; Participation; Deliberation; Accountability; Representation; Constitutionalism; Electoral Laws; Parties; Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Functions. The Boundary Problem; The "All-Affected" Principle; Contested Senses of Liberal and Procedural Democracy; The Pros and Cons of Term Limits; Proportional Representation; Referendums; Problems of Democratic Transparency and Reversibility. Written by a leading authority in the field, Frederick G. Whelan encourages us to think of the many alternative ways of putting democracy into practice and of these alternatives as requiring choices. This diversity means that there is no unique or correct democratic outcome from a given set of preferences, since outcomes are shaped by the methods followed in reaching them.

The State of Democratic Theory

The State of Democratic Theory PDF Author: Ian Shapiro
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691123967
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
What should we expect from democracy, and how likely is it that democracies will live up to those expectations? In The State of Democratic Theory, Ian Shapiro offers a critical assessment of contemporary answers to these questions, lays out his distinctive alternative, and explores its implications for policy and political action. Some accounts of democracy's purposes focus on aggregating preferences; others deal with collective deliberation in search of the common good. Shapiro reveals the shortcomings of both, arguing instead that democracy should be geared toward minimizing domination throughout society. He contends that Joseph Schumpeter's classic defense of competitive democracy is a useful starting point for achieving this purpose, but that it stands in need of radical supplementation--both with respect to its operation in national political institutions and in its extension to other forms of collective association. Shapiro's unusually wide-ranging discussion also deals with the conditions that make democracy's survival more and less likely, with the challenges presented by ethnic differences and claims for group rights, and with the relations between democracy and the distribution of income and wealth. Ranging over politics, philosophy, constitutional law, economics, sociology, and psychology, this book is written in Shapiro's characteristic lucid style--a style that engages practitioners within the field while also opening up the debate to newcomers.

Participation and Democratic Theory

Participation and Democratic Theory PDF Author: Carole Pateman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521290043
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Book Description
Shows that current elitist theories are based on an inadequate understanding of the early writings of democratic theory and that much sociological evidence has been ignored.

Global Democratic Theory

Global Democratic Theory PDF Author: Daniel Bray
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 074569148X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
Global Democratic Theory is the first comprehensive introduction to the changing contours of democracy in today’s hyperconnected world. Accessibly written for readers new to the topic, it considers the impact of globalization and global forms of governance and activism on democratic politics and examines how democratic theory has responded to address these challenges, including calls for new forms of democracy to be developed beyond the nation-state and for greater public participation and accountability in existing global institutions. Divided into two parts, the book shows how globalization provides both new obstacles and new opportunities for democracy. Part I explores the shifts underway at the national and international levels that are challenging democracy within nation-states around the world. In response, new proposals for global and transnational democracy have emerged. Part II critically analyses five main approaches of ‘global democratic theory’ Ð liberal internationalism, cosmopolitan democracy, deliberative democracy, social democracy and radical democracy, focusing on their specific interpretation of the problems facing democracy, their normative claims, and the feasibility of their proposed pathways of democratization. The book’s extensive account of the problems and possibilities facing democracy today will be essential reading for students and scholars of politics, political theory and political philosophy.

Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy

Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy PDF Author: Anthony H. Birch
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134589514
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
The first aim of this text book is to define and examine the principle concepts that are employed when people write or argue about modern democratic politics, to discuss the implications of using the concepts in this way or that, and to examine the normative theories associated with the concepts. A second purpose is to summarise methods of analysis used by political scientists and to discuss the controversies that have arisen about these methods, with particular reference to attempts to create a science of politics.