Talking Democracy

While emphasising discursive and historical dimensions of democracy, the resources available in the history of rhetorical theory and practice tend to be ignored. This book aims to resurrect this history and show how attention to rhetoric can help lead to a better understanding of the strengths and limitations of theories of deliberative democracy.

How popular democracy has paradoxically eroded trust in political systems worldwide, and how to restore confidence in democratic politics In recent decades, democracies across the world have adopted measures to increase popular involvement in political decisions. Parties have turned to primaries and local caucuses to select candidates; ballot initiatives and referenda allow citizens to enact laws directly; many places now use proportional representation, encouraging smaller, more specific parties rather than two dominant ones.Yet voters keep getting angrier.There is a steady erosion of trust in politicians, parties, and democratic institutions, culminating most recently in major populist victories in the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. Frances Rosenbluth and Ian Shapiro argue that devolving power to the grass roots is part of the problem. Efforts to decentralize political decision-making have made governments and especially political parties less effective and less able to address constituents’ long-term interests. They argue that to restore confidence in governance, we must restructure our political systems to restore power to the core institution of representative democracy: the political party.

Fifty of today's finest thinkers were asked to let their imaginations run free to advance new ideas on a wide range of social and political issues. They did so as friends, on the occasion of Philippe Van Parijs's sixtieth birthday.

Honeybees make decisions collectively--and democratically. Every year, faced with the life-or-death problem of choosing and traveling to a new home, honeybees stake everything on a process that includes collective fact-finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building. In fact, as world-renowned animal behaviorist Thomas Seeley reveals, these incredible insects have much to teach us when it comes to collective wisdom and effective decision making. A remarkable and richly illustrated account of scientific discovery, Honeybee Democracy brings together, for the first time, decades of Seeley's pioneering research to tell the amazing story of house hunting and democratic debate among the honeybees. In the late spring and early summer, as a bee colony becomes overcrowded, a third of the hive stays behind and rears a new queen, while a swarm of thousands departs with the old queen to produce a daughter colony. Seeley describes how these bees evaluate potential nest sites, advertise their discoveries to one another, engage in open deliberation, choose a final site, and navigate together--as a swirling cloud of bees--to their new home. Seeley investigates how evolution has honed the decision-making methods of honeybees over millions of years, and he considers similarities between the ways that bee swarms and primate brains process information. He concludes that what works well for bees can also work well for people: any decision-making group should consist of individuals with shared interests and mutual respect, a leader's influence should be minimized, debate should be relied upon, diverse solutions should be sought, and the majority should be counted on for a dependable resolution. An impressive exploration of animal behavior, Honeybee Democracy shows that decision-making groups, whether honeybee or human, can be smarter than even the smartest individuals in them.

"A celebration of the acclaimed television and radio news program Democracy Now! and the extraordinary movements and heroes who have moved our democracy forward. In 1996 Amy Goodman began hosting a show on Pacifica Radio called Democracy Now! to focus on the issues and movements that are too often ignored by the corporate media. Today Democracy Now! is the largest public media collaboration in the US, broadcasting on over 1,400 public television and radio stations around the world, with millions accessing it online at DemocracyNow.org. Now Amy, along with her journalist brother, David, and co-author Denis Moynihan, share stories of the heroes -- the whistleblowers, the organizers, the protesters -- who have brought about remarkable change. This important book looks back over the past two decades of Democracy Now! and the powerful movements and charismatic leaders who are re-shaping our world. Goodman takes the reader along as she goes to where the silence is, bringing out voices from the streets of Ferguson to Staten Island, Wall Street, South Carolina to East Timor -- and other places where people are rising up to demand justice. Democracy Now! is the modern day underground railroad of information, bringing stories from the grassroots to a global audience."--

Rechtmäßige Herrschaft auf internationaler Ebene verlangt zunehmend die Einhaltung demokratischer Standards. Das zumindest suggeriert die Prominenz des Demokratiebegriffs in den Reformdebatten internationaler Organisationen. Auf Basis eines neuen Datensatzes, der ein Jahrzehnt Demokratiediskurs von 159 Staaten über den UN-Sicherheitsrat und die UN Generalversammlung abdeckt, liefert das Buch wichtige Einblicke in das Narrativ vom demokratischen Regieren jenseits des Staates, seine Merkmale und seine Funktionsweise. Die Befunde befruchten nicht nur die Forschung zu empirischer Legitimität, Normkontestation und globaler Demokratie. In einer Zeit, in der ideologischer Wettbewerb auf dem Vormarsch ist, zeugen sie auch von der Kraft der demokratischen Idee.

Sharia implementation and democratic discourse in Northern Nigeria -- What we talk about when we talk about Islam and democracy -- Envisioning sharia, imagining the past -- Democracy, federalism, and the sharia question -- Sharia in a time of transition -- Framing sharia and democracy -- Muslims talking politics -- All sharia is local: islamic law and democracy in practice.

Uiteenzetting over de opkomst van het populisme en het gevaar daarvan voor de democratie.