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Democracy or Socialism: The Fateful Question for America in 2024
by Sven R. LarsonThis book discusses socialism and democracy. It approaches socialism not as a label but as an ideology. Based on a careful examination of what socialism is, traced back to Karl Marx, this book explains the tense relationship between socialism and democracy and how it has influenced political thought and practice in both Europe and America. This book carefully avoids conventional wisdom, seeking instead to originate its definition and analysis of socialism in its political theory and practice. Building on the relationship between socialism and democracy, the book explores how this uneasy roommate agreement may affect America’s future.
Democracy Rules
by Jan-Werner MüllerOne of our most essential political thinkers offers a vital account of democracy in the twenty-first centuryEveryone knows that democracy is in trouble, but do we know what democracy actually is? Political philosopher Jan-Werner Müller, author of the widely acclaimed What Is Populism?, takes us back to basics. In this short, elegant volume, he explains how democracy is founded on three vital principles: liberty, equality, and also uncertainty. The latter, he argues, is crucial for ensuring democracy's dynamic and creative character. Authoritarians, as well as Big Tech, seek to render politics (and individual citizens) predictable; democracy holds open the possibility that new ideas, movements and identities can be created.Acknowledging fully the dangers posed by populism, by kleptocratic autocracies like Russia's and by the digital authoritarianism of Xi, Müller also challenges the assumptions made by many liberals defending democracy in recent years. He shows how the secession of plutocratic elites in the West has undermined much of democracy's promise. In response, we need to re-invigorate our institutions, especially political parties and professional media, but also make it easier for citizens to mobilize. Taking on many of the most difficult political questions we face, this book is a vital rethinking of what democracy is, and how we can reinvent our social contract.
Democracy, Social Justice, and the American Community College: A Student-Centered Perspective
by Patrick SullivanThis book provides scholars, educators, and legislators with a personal, classroom-level tour of daily life at a community college. Readers will accompany the author into the classroom as he goes about his work as an English teacher meeting with classes and corresponding with students on Blackboard and e-mail. Answering the call for ”student-centered scholarship,” this book blends traditional academic writing with chapters that feature a rich variety of student work, including essays, journal entries, poems, art, and responses to creative assignments. In this volume, Sullivan theorizes the modern community college as a social justice institution. By mission and mandate, the modern community college has democratized America’s system of higher education and distributed hope, equity, and opportunity more broadly across the nation.
Democratic Citizenship in Flux: Conceptions of Citizenship in the Light of Political and Social Fragmentation (Edition Politik #85)
by Markus Bayer Oliver Schwarz Toralf StarkTraditionally, citizenship has been defined as the legal and political link between individuals and their democratic political community. However, traditional conceptions of democratic citizenship are currently challenged by various developments like migration, the rise of populism, increasing polarization, social fragmentation, and the challenging of representative democracy as well as developments in digital communication technology. Against this background, this peer reviewed book reflects recent conceptions of citizenship by bringing together insights from different disciplines, such as political science, sociology, economics, law, and history.
Democratic Decay and Authoritarian Resurgence
by Natasha LindstaedtWhy do democracies fall apart, and what can be done about it? This book introduces students to the concept and causes of democratic decay in the modern world. Illustrating the integral link between public commitment to democratic norms and the maintenance of healthy democracies, it examines the key factors in decaying democracies, including: • Economic inequality; • Corruption; • Populist and authoritarian discourse; • Declining belief in political institutions and processes. Drawing on real-world developments, and including international case studies, the book outlines the extent to which there is a ‘democratic recession’ in contemporary politics and shows how transnational networks and technology are impacting on this development.
Democratic Decay and Authoritarian Resurgence
by Natasha LindstaedtWhy do democracies fall apart, and what can be done about it? This book introduces students to the concept and causes of democratic decay in the modern world. Illustrating the integral link between public commitment to democratic norms and the maintenance of healthy democracies, it examines the key factors in decaying democracies, including: • Economic inequality; • Corruption; • Populist and authoritarian discourse; • Declining belief in political institutions and processes. Drawing on real-world developments, and including international case studies, the book outlines the extent to which there is a ‘democratic recession’ in contemporary politics and shows how transnational networks and technology are impacting on this development.
Democratic Decision-making: Consensus Voting for Civic Society and Parliaments (SpringerBriefs in Political Science)
by Peter EmersonThis book provides a practical guide to how groups of people, everywhere, from the local village council to the United Nations Security Council, can best make collective decisions. By comparing the many voting procedures used in democratic decision-making, it explains why win-or-lose binary voting can be inaccurate and divisive, while the more inclusive preferential points system of voting can be so much more accurate and, therefore, more democratic; indeed, it is a win-win methodology. The text, essential reading for anyone interested in fair and participatory collective decision-making, also compares the most common electoral systems.
Democratic Design
by Michael SawardDemocracy faces stern tests around the world in the twenty-first century. Democratic Design argues that to respond effectively and creatively, democrats need to work with a versatile new toolkit of concepts and institutions. The book assembles this toolkit — the democratic design framework — through an original blend of design thinking and democratic theory and practice. It shows how to use the framework to renew and enliven our ideas of democracy across a range of contexts. The book explores a wide range of institutions, from the familiar (such as parliamentary procedures) to the innovative (such as citizens' assemblies). It underlines the importance of systemic and contextual design, and the practical enactment of democratic values such as equality, freedom and participation. Democratic Design shows how a comprehensive approach to rethinking the present and future of democratic governance is possible, indeed essential. It draws together, and moves beyond, the best of existing theories and models by devising a new framework that is both practical and theoretically robust.
Democratic Latin America
by Craig L. ArceneauxThe third edition of Democratic Latin America retains its classic institutional approach to understand contemporary Latin American politics. Each chapter focuses on a different institution and compares how they are constructed differently across countries. Placing a premium on accessibility, the chapters open with a story and end with a detailed country case study, making use of contemporary examples to feed student interest in current events, with comparison-based tables and box features interspersed throughout to stimulate analysis. Every chapter finishes with a set of questions and recommended readings. This approach allows for a very practical approach to politics that encourages critical analysis. Updates to this new edition include: updated comparison-based tables and box features to stimulate analysis; new "Country in the Spotlight" to include developments unique to each country; and discussions on political change in Cuba, indigenous peoples and political power, neopopulism, impeachment procedures, transitional justice, the 2019 protests, the new militarism, the mobilization of women against violence, LGBT rights, the evangelical movement, and the Colombian peace process. A clear-eyed look at political institutions to provide a roadmap to the political activity in a country, Democratic Latin America continues to offer an original way of teaching and learning about Latin American politics.
Democratic Latin America
by Craig L. ArceneauxThe third edition of Democratic Latin America retains its classic institutional approach to understand contemporary Latin American politics. Each chapter focuses on a different institution and compares how they are constructed differently across countries. Placing a premium on accessibility, the chapters open with a story and end with a detailed country case study, making use of contemporary examples to feed student interest in current events, with comparison-based tables and box features interspersed throughout to stimulate analysis. Every chapter finishes with a set of questions and recommended readings. This approach allows for a very practical approach to politics that encourages critical analysis. Updates to this new edition include: updated comparison-based tables and box features to stimulate analysis; new "Country in the Spotlight" to include developments unique to each country; and discussions on political change in Cuba, indigenous peoples and political power, neopopulism, impeachment procedures, transitional justice, the 2019 protests, the new militarism, the mobilization of women against violence, LGBT rights, the evangelical movement, and the Colombian peace process. A clear-eyed look at political institutions to provide a roadmap to the political activity in a country, Democratic Latin America continues to offer an original way of teaching and learning about Latin American politics.
Democratic Law (The Berkeley Tanner Lectures)
by Seana Valentine ShiffrinIn this book, based on her 2017 Berkeley Tanner Lectures, Seana Valentine Shiffrin offers an original, deontological account of democracy, law, and their interrelation. Her central thesis is that democracy and democratic law have intrinsically valuable, interconnected communicative functions. Democracy and democratic law together allow us to fulfill our fundamental duties to convey to each another messages of equal respect by fashioning the sorts of public joint commitments to act that a sincere message of equal respect requires. Law and democracy are essential to each other: the aspirations of democracy cannot be realized except through a legal system, and, conversely, law can fulfill its primary function only in a democratic context. After defending these theses, Shiffrin explores two doctrinal examples to illustrate how a communicative conception of democratic law would yield concrete implications. First, articulating the special democratic character of judicially articulated common law, she resists instrumental, outcome-oriented conceptions of law and defends the essential importance of the common law duty of good faith in contracts. Second, appealing to the need for law to articulate a coherent set of moral commitments, she criticizes the U.S. Supreme Court's approach to constitutional balancing. In a set of commentaries, Niko Kolodny, Richard Brooks, and Anna Stilz offer illuminating and sometimes provocative discussion of both the philosophical and the legal aspects of Shiffrin's discussion. Shiffrin's responses expand upon themes concerning legal compliance, commitments, communication, dissent, political participation, and the permissible range of state interests.
Democratic Legitimation of Central Bank Independence in the European Union
by Cornelia Manger-Nestler Markus GentzschThis short monograph examines the tense relationship between central bank independence and democratic legitimation, which has changed as the European Central Bank (ECB) has been entrusted with new tasks and faced unprecedented challenges. The financial and sovereign debt crisis, in particular, has affected the ECB's position within the Economic and Monetary Union without substantial changes in the Union's legal framework. However, the evolution of an institution primarily obligated to maintain price stability into an actor involved in sustaining financial stability, performing banking supervision and supporting economic policy raises the question of whether the high level of autonomy granted to the ECB is justified with regard to the principle of democracy that demands adequate accountability and control. This book identifies requirements for the democratic legitimation of central bank action in relation to specific tasks. Further, it analyses other scales of independence encountered in EU law in order to allow readers to gain a better conceptual understanding of central bank independence.
Democratic Speech in Divided Times
by Maxime LepoutreIn an ideal democracy, people from all walks of life would come together to talk meaningfully and respectfully about politics. But we do not live in an ideal democracy. In contemporary democracies, which are marked by deep social divisions, different groups for the most part avoid talking to each other. And when they do talk to each other, their speech often seems to be little more than a vehicle for rage, hatred, and deception. Democratic Speech in Divided Times argues that we should nevertheless not give up on the ideal of democratic public speech. Drawing on the resources of political theory, epistemology, and philosophy of language, this book develops a sustained account of the norms that should govern public discourse in deeply divided circumstances. Should we try to find common ground when we talk to our political opponents, even though they seem unreasonable? Should we refrain from expressing anger, if we want to get things done? How can we use our speech to fight hate speech and disinformation? And is it even possible to speak to 'the other side,' in settings where different groups dislike one another, live apart from one another, and don't know much about one another? By tackling these questions, Lepoutre demonstrates that, when governed by the right set of norms, public speech can be a powerful force for good even amidst profound social divisions.
The Democratic Sublime: On Aesthetics and Popular Assembly
by Jason FrankThe transition from royal to popular sovereignty during the age of democratic revolutions--from 1776 to 1848--entailed not only the reorganization of institutions of governance and norms of political legitimacy, but also a dramatic transformation in the iconography and symbolism of political power. The personal and external rule of the king, whose body was the physical locus of political authority, was replaced with the impersonal and immanent self-rule of the people, whose power could not be incontestably embodied. This posed representational difficulties that went beyond questions of institutionalization and law, extending into the aesthetic realm of visualization, composition, and form. How to make the people's sovereign will tangible to popular judgment was, and is, a crucial problem of democratic political aesthetics. The Democratic Sublime offers an interdisciplinary exploration of how the revolutionary proliferation of popular assemblies--crowds, demonstrations, gatherings of the "people out of doors"--came to be central to the political aesthetics of democracy during the age of democratic revolutions. Jason Frank argues that popular assemblies allowed the people to manifest as a collective actor capable of enacting dramatic political reforms and change. Moreover, Frank asserts that popular assemblies became privileged sites of democratic representation as they claimed to support the voice of the people while also signaling the material plenitude beyond any single representational claim. Popular assemblies continue to retain this power, in part, because they embody that which escapes representational capture: they disrupt the representational space of appearance and draw their power from the ineffability and resistant materiality of the people's will. Engaging with a wide range of sources, from canonical political theorists (Rousseau, Burke, and Tocqueville) to the novels of Hugo, the visual culture of the barricades, and the memoirs of popular insurgents, The Democratic Sublime demonstrates how making the people's sovereign will tangible to popular judgment became a central dilemma of modern democracy, and how it remains so today.
Democratic Vulnerability and Autocratic Meddling: The "Thucydidean Brink" in Regressive Geopolitical Competition
by Mika AaltolaThis book investigates complex regressive dynamics in contemporary Western democracies. They include not only severe polarization in domestic politics, but also efforts by external autocratic powers to co-opt the increasingly digitalized political processes in the West. The discussion on democratic vulnerability and regression has rarely been historically and theoretically reflective. The aim is to fill this relative void by drawing on classical sources to inform about the political anxieties and agitations of our present time as the Western world moves towards new critical elections. The key concept of the analysis, a Thucydidean brink, refers to a critical point where the attraction felt towards an outside geopolitical competitor becomes stronger than the political affinity felt towards one’s domestic political opponent. As political polarization, societal decomposition and the collusive tendencies grow in strength, political factions and political candidates in western societies can be(come) drawn to autocratic actors. Perhaps most alarmingly, the resulting nexus between democracies and autocracies can further intensify mutual regression and form downwards-sloping spirals that are not ultimately under any strategic control. This book draws from the experiences of recent elections in major Western democracies to illustrate the widening and deepening underlying regressive tendency.
Democratization, National Identity and Foreign Policy in Asia
by Gilbert RozmanHow can democratization move forward in an era of populist-nationalist backlash? Many countries in Asia, and elsewhere, face the challenge of navigating between China and the United States in a period of intensifying polarization in their policies tied to democracy. East Asia has shown the way to democratization in Asia—with Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan linking national identity to democratization. In other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia, nationalist governments have tended to move away from democratization, as happened in Hong Kong at China’s insistence. This book investigates how national identity can both help and hinder democratization, illustrated by a series of examples from across Asia. A valuable guide for students and scholars both of democratization and of Asian politics.
Democratization, National Identity and Foreign Policy in Asia
by Gilbert RozmanHow can democratization move forward in an era of populist-nationalist backlash? Many countries in Asia, and elsewhere, face the challenge of navigating between China and the United States in a period of intensifying polarization in their policies tied to democracy. East Asia has shown the way to democratization in Asia—with Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan linking national identity to democratization. In other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia, nationalist governments have tended to move away from democratization, as happened in Hong Kong at China’s insistence. This book investigates how national identity can both help and hinder democratization, illustrated by a series of examples from across Asia. A valuable guide for students and scholars both of democratization and of Asian politics.
Demografischer Wandel und Wirtschaft (Demografie und Wirtschaft)
by Hendrik BudligerDemografie und demografischer Wandel betreffen uns alle. Dennoch ist das Thema viel zu wenig in unseren Köpfen und in der Öffentlichkeit präsent. Dieses Buch befasst sich mit den Auswirkungen des demografischen Wandels auf die Wirtschaft, wobei dies differenziert aus mehreren Perspektiven betrachtet wird. In verständlicher Sprache bieten die Autorinnen und Autoren aus Wissenschaft und Praxis fokussierte Einblicke in ihre Arbeit, um Erkenntnisse und Zusammenhänge zwischen der Demografie und der Wirtschaft zu diskutieren und um ihre jeweiligen Blickwinkel und Kompetenzen zu vermitteln. Es werden sowohl Problemfelder aufgezeigt, die erst im Entstehen sind, als auch Lösungsansätze für bereits bestehende Zusammenhänge vorgeschlagen. Neben verschiedenen Ursachen demografischen Wandels werden Auswirkungen der demografischen Entwicklung auf Nachfrage, Arbeitsmarkt, Rentenversicherung, Staatsfinanzen und den Klimawandel analysiert sowie die Covid-19-Pandemie und deren Auswirkung auf demografische Faktoren diskutiert. Dies ist der erste Band der Reihe Demografie und Wirtschaft.
Demography and the Anthropocene (SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace #35)
by Larry D. BarnettEnvironmentalists devote little attention at the moment to the size and growth of the human population. To counter this neglect, the monograph (i) includes original graphs showing population size and growth since 1920 in the world as a whole and the United States; (ii) assembles evidence tying the increasing number of people to ecosystem deterioration and its societal consequences; and (iii) analyzes sample-survey data to ascertain whether the current disregard of population pressures by U.S. environmentalists reflects the thinking of Americans generally. However, even if a nation took steps primarily intended to lower childbearing and immigration, the findings of social science research indicate that the steps would not have a substantial, lasting impact. The discussion, which suggests an indirect way by which government may reduce fertility, underlines for environmental scholars the importance of studying their subject in a multidisciplinary, collaborative setting.
The Demography of Disasters: Impacts for Population and Place
by Dávid Karácsonyi Andrew Taylor Deanne BirdThis open access book provides worldwide examples demonstrating the importance of the interplay between demography and disasters in regions and spatially. It marks an advance in practical and theoretical insights for understanding the role of demography in planning for and mitigating impacts from disasters in developed nations. Both slow onset (like the of loss polar ice from climate change) and sudden disasters (such as cyclones and man-made disasters) have the capacity to fundamentally change the profiles of populations at local and regional levels. Impacts vary according to the type, rapidity and magnitude of the disaster, but also according to the pre-existing population profile and its relationships to the economy and society. In all cases, the key to understanding impacts and avoiding them in the future is to understand the relationships between disasters and population change. In most chapters in this book we compare and contrast studies from at least two cases and summarize their practical and theoretical lessons.
Demokratie braucht Medien
by Melanie Magin Uta Rußmann Birgit StarkFreie und unabhängige Medien sind die Grundlage einer lebendigen Demokratie. In normativen Demokratiemodellen wird die „Wächterrolle“ von Medien betont, weil neben der Kontroll- und Informationsfunktion der Medien ihr Beitrag zur Legitimierung politischer Prozesse als zentral angesehen wird. Medien unterliegen jedoch im digitalen Wandel einem hohen Anpassungsdruck: Sie drohen ihre traditionelle Gatekeeper-Rolle zu verlieren und konkurrieren mit globalen Tech-Giganten wie Facebook und Google um Werbegelder und die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums. Die Plattformisierung der Medien stellt nicht nur die Vermittlungsleistungen professioneller journalistischer Informationsanbieter in Frage, sondern auch die Rolle der Medien in der Herstellung von Öffentlichkeit. Der Band hinterfragt die sich wandelnde Rolle der Medien im politischen System sowie das Verhältnis von Medien und Politik kritisch. Funktionen und Autonomiegrad von Medien und Journalismus werden analysiert. Mithilfe von Zeitvergleichen werden tiefgreifende Veränderungen wie auch Konstanten herausgearbeitet. Nicht zuletzt gilt es zu erörtern, welche Akteure welche Verantwortung tragen und welche Privilegien sie genießen (sollten).
Demokratie im Alltag: Zum Bürger*innenbewusstsein Wiener Jugendlicher (Citizenship. Studien zur Politischen Bildung)
by Tobias Doppelbauer Dirk LangeDas Buch entwickelt die empirische Basis der politischen Bildung aus der Perspektive einer kritisch-konstruktivistischen und qualitativen Politikdidaktik. Neben Rekonstruktionen von Demokratievorstellungen werden vielfältige Zugänge zu Demokratie aufgezeigt und didaktische Implikationen für die Praxis politischer Bildung exploriert. Untersucht werden die Demokratievorstellungen Wiener Jugendlicher im Kontext der postdemokratischen Konstellation ‚westlicher‘ und liberaler Demokratien.
Demokratie im postkommunistischen EU-Raum: Erfolge, Defizite, Risiken (Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft)
by Günter Verheugen Karel Vodička Martin BrusisDas Buch analysiert die Lage der Demokratie in elf postkommunistischen EU-Mitgliedstaaten und in Ostdeutschland. Dreißig Jahre nach den friedlichen Revolutionen in Mittel- und Osteuropa gibt es Erfolge und Chancen, aber auch Fehlentwicklungen und Defizite, die im Kontext von europäischer Integration und Transformationsgeschichte untersucht und eingeordnet werden. Das Buch bietet allgemein interessierten Leser*innen einen strukturierten Überblick sowie vertiefte Kenntnisse zu den einzelnen Staaten und dem Sonderfall Ostdeutschland. Dieses Buch eröffnet interessante Vergleichsperspektiven und eine systematische Wissensbasis zur Demokratiequalität im postkommunistischen Raum. Gleichzeitig werden Motive, Abläufe und politische Ergebnisse der EU-Osterweiterung im Zusammenhang dargestellt und die noch zu lösenden Aufgaben beschrieben.
Demokratie im Stresstest: Reaktionen von Politikdidaktik und politischer Bildung (Politische Bildung)
by Carl Deichmann Marc PartetzkeDas Ziel des Sammelbandes besteht erstens darin, die Herausforderungen für die demokratisch-politische Ordnung durch die Corona-Krise sowie die damit verbundenen Einschränkungen der demokratischen Grundrechte der Bürger*innen unter politikdidaktischen Gesichtspunkten zu analysieren. Zweitens geht es darum, Forschungsansätze, -projekte und -ergebnisse sowie Methoden der Lehr-Lernforschung vorzustellen, die sich auf die veränderten Bedingungen in der (außer-)schulischen Politischen Bildung sowie auf mögliche Unterrichtsprojekte beziehen.
Dependent Capitalisms in Contemporary Latin America and Europe (International Political Economy Series)
by Aldo Madariaga Stefano PalestiniThis book contributes to the current revival of dependency approaches for the analysis of global capitalism. Reflecting on contemporary uses of the “Dependency Research Program” (DRP) and a refined analytical toolkit, it makes two distinctive contributions to this revival: the analysis of new “situations of dependency”, and the understanding of the “mechanisms of dependency”. The individual chapters draw from a wide range of cases and data from Latin America and Europe and imbricate concepts and ideas from the DRP with those of other approaches, from post-Keynesian economics to structural economics, institutional economics, regulation theory, comparative capitalisms, business politics, economic geography and critical finance studies, providing a rich array of possibilities for virtuous inter-disciplinary cross-fertilization. This volume is a valuable contribution for those interested in understanding how global capitalism works in Latin America, Europe and beyond.