Envisioning Democracy

Few terms elicit such strong and varied feelings and yet have so little clarity as "democracy." Leaders of large states use "democracy" to designate their nations’ public character even as critics and rivals use the term to validate their own political perspectives. In Envisioning Democracy, the editors and contributors address the following questions: What does democracy mean today? What could it mean tomorrow? What is the dynamic of democracy in an increasingly interdependent world? Envisioning Democracy explores these questions amid the dynamic of democracy as a political phenomenon interacting with forms of economic, ethical, ethnic, and intellectual life. The book draws on the work of Sheldon S. Wolin (1922–2015), one of the most influential American theorists of the last fifty years. Here, scholars consider the historical conditions, theoretical elements, and practical impediments to democracy, using Wolin’s insights as touchstones in thinking through the possibilities and obstacles facing democracy now and in the future.

Drawing on the thought of Sheldon Wolin, a major American political theorist, this collection presents fresh understandings of contemporary democracy.

"There is no political term today that has a greater cachet and so little clarity than democracy. Leaders of large states use it to designate their nations' public character, while it is also used by critics of leaders calling themselves "democratic" to spearhead their calls for political reforms. In Envisioning Democracy, Terry Maley and John R. Wallach address the following key questions: What does democracy mean today? What could it mean tomorrow? What is the dynamic of democracy, especially in an increasingly interdependent world of growing inequality, that can be captured by authoritarian populist leaders? Envisioning Democracy explores these questions amid the dynamic of democracy as a political phenomenon interacting with forms of economic, ethical, and intellectual life. The book draws on the thought of one of America's greatest writers on democracy in the last fifty years, Sheldon S. Wolin (1922-2015). In this collection, scholars consider the historical conditions, theoretical elements, and practical impediments to democracy, relying on Wolin's insights as touchstones in thinking through what democracy means now and what it could mean in the future. Envisioning Democracy presents new perspectives on longstanding, current, and future issues surrounding democracy and liberalism in political theory."--

The Democratic Imagination examines different conceptions of democracy, exploring tensions that emerge in key moments and debates in the history of democracy, from Ancient Greece to the French Revolution to contemporary Egypt.

The future of public education and democracy is at risk. Powerful forces are eroding commitment to public schools and weakening democratic resolve. Yet even in deeply troubling times, it is possible to broaden social imagination and empower effective advocacy for systemic progressive reform. Re-envisioning Education and Democracy explores challenges and opportunities for restructuring public education to establish and sustain more broadly inclusive, deeply democratic, and effectively transforming approaches to social inquiry and civic participation. Re-envisioning Education and Democracy adopts a non-traditional format to extend social awareness and imagination. Within each chapter, one episode of an evolving strategic narrative traces the life cycle of a systemic reform initiative. This is followed by an exploratory essay that draws from theory, research, criticism, and practice to prompt consideration of focal issues. Woven through each chapter is a poetically framed meditative stream informed by varied historical and cultural conceptions of oracles. A developmental sequence of social learning strategies (exploratory democratic practices), accompanied by thematic bibliographic references, are included to model democratic teaching and learning applicable in classroom and community settings.

Focusing on portrayals of Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, and Stalin's Russia in U.S. films, magazine and newspaper articles, books, plays, speeches, and other texts, Benjamin Alpers traces changing American understandings of dictatorship from the la

This book argues that the liberal concept of rights presupposes and is grounded in an individualistic culture or shared way of relating, and that this particular shared way of relating emerged only in the wake of the Reformation in the modern West.

Democracy is very much an open question in the early twenty-first century. While voter participation declines in many traditional democracies, new movements for democracy are emerging around the world. This book brings the question of democracy out of the halls of political power and home to our daily lives, pitting "official democracy" and "democracy from below" against one another in a lively debate. For more information see www.democraticimagination.com.