Journal Article•
Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy
About: This article is published in Review of Metaphysics.The article was published on 1997-02-01 and is currently open access. It has received 2568 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Democracy.
Citations
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TL;DR: Drawing on deliberative democratic theory, normative criteria for deliberative legitimacy are elaborate and used for assessing two argumentation systems.
Abstract: Recent proposals for computer-assisted argumentation have drawn on dialectical models of argumentation. When used to assist public policy planning, such systems also raise questions of political legitimacy. Drawing on deliberative democratic theory, we elaborate normative criteria for deliberative legitimacy and illustrate their use for assessing two argumentation systems. Full assessment of such systems requires experiments in which system designers draw on expertise from the social sciences and enter into the policy deliberation itself at the level of participants.
29 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...Theorists like Rawls (1996) and Habermas (1996) attempt to maintain a link between citizen attitudes and theoretical standards by arguing that the latter simply articulate what citizens already accept, at least in their better moments or in an inchoate manner....
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...Theorists like Rawls (1996) and Habermas (1996) attempt to maintain a link between citizen attitudes and theoretical standards by arguing that the latter simply articulate what citizens already accept, at least in their better moments or in an inchoate manner....
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...Finally, some deliberative models go still further and link legitimacy with the supposition that consensus could be achieved under ideal conditions of discourse (Habermas 1996, p. 110; Cohen 1989)....
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...Finally, some deliberative models go still further and link legitimacy with the supposition that consensus could be achieved under ideal conditions of discourse ( Habermas 1996, p. 110; Cohen 1989)....
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the potential for democratic participation via Web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook and other social networking sites and recognize that within the contemporary context, information, communication and participation stand-in for motivation, judgment and action when it comes to democratic politics.
Abstract: Emerging media technologies and applications have accompanied by an explosion of diverse means and practices for engaging in public life, raising the possibility of an invigorated and improved democratic politics. Investment in this possibility is premised on acceptance of the norms associated with publicity, specifically access to information and enhanced communication. Starting from the premise that democracy is a term whose defining attributes are best understood as the politicization of moral and ethical questions and equality (as opposed to a characteristic set of procedures and practices), the discussion in this paper investigates the potential for democratic participation via Web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook and other social networking sites. What emerges from this exercise is the recognition that within the contemporary context, information, communication and participation stand-in for motivation, judgment and action when it comes to democratic politics. This implies, in turn, that we may be settling for publicity in the place of the more the demanding democratic goods of politicization and equality. Somewhat more ominously, the popular embrace of these surrogates via emerging media technologies may actually undermine the prospect of a politics aimed at more radical outcomes.
29 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2009
29 citations
TL;DR: The concept of deliberative uptake as mentioned in this paper explores the concept of fair consideration of the arguments, stories, and perspectives that citizens share in deliberation, which is defined as "fair consideration of arguments, perspectives, and arguments".
Abstract: This article explores the concept of deliberative uptake, which I define as the fair consideration of the arguments, stories, and perspectives that citizens share in deliberation. Reinterpreting th...
28 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...In fact, Habermas (1996) is quoting John Dewey (1954), quoting Samuel Tilden....
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...Uptake must occur within and between these “two tracks” of democratic deliberation (Habermas, 1996: 314)....
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: This work suggests and elaborate an analytical frame- work, which combines the genre system lens of organizational communica- tion and contemporary e-democracy models, and adheres to the ensemble view of IT artefacts.
Abstract: E-Democracy aims at enhancing citizen involvement in societal communication and decision making. However, the very ideals of democ- racy vary while reports of e-democracy in use have often left them undis- cussed. Moreover, theoretical works on the potential of information tech- nology (IT) for democratization have often viewed IT as a "black box", and assumed that technology should create an impact as such. Hence, there is a dearth of research on the interplay between models of e-democracy and actual IT artefacts in use. We suggest and elaborate an analytical frame- work, which combines the genre system lens of organizational communica- tion and contemporary e-democracy models. The framework adheres to the ensemble view of IT artefacts. We illustrate use of the framework through a retrospective analysis of four e-democracy applications. The framework re- veals similarities and differences between particular e-democracy contexts and applications, which can now be more concretely discussed at the level of genre systems and their constituent genres. Such analytical dimensions as malleability, genre compatibility, and density of genre systems may give insight for further research and knowledge accumulation on e-democracy.
28 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...The idea of democracy depends fundamentally on effective communication and decision-making about public issues among citizens, politicians, officers and other stakeholders (Habermas 1996; Van Dijk 2000)....
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References
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TL;DR: In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing--and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves.
Abstract: With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today's emerging networked information environment. In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing--and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained--or lost--by the decisions we make today.
4,002 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors develop a framework for understanding the range of institutional possibilities for public participation, including who participates, how participants communicate with one another and make decisions together, and how discussions are linked with policy or public action.
Abstract: The multifaceted challenges of contemporary governance demand a complex account of the ways in which those who are subject to laws and policies should participate in making them. This article develops a framework for understanding the range of institutional possibilities for public participation. Mechanisms of participation vary along three important dimensions: who participates, how participants communicate with one another and make decisions together, and how discussions are linked with policy or public action. These three dimensions constitute a space in which any particular mechanism of participation can be located. Different regions of this institutional design space are more and less suited to addressing important problems of democratic governance such as legitimacy, justice, and effective administration.
1,526 citations
01 Dec 2000
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the current debate about the nature of democracy and discuss the main theses of the approach called "deliberative democracy" in its two main versions, the one put forward by John Rawls, and the other one put forth by Jurgen Habermas.
Abstract: This article examines the current debate about the nature of democracy and discusses the main theses of the approach called 'deliberative democracy' in its two main versions, the one put forward by John Rawls, and the other one put forwardby Jurgen Habermas. While agreeing with them as regards to the need to develop a more of democracy than the one offered by the 'aggregative' model, I submit that they do not provide an adequate understanding of the main task of democracy. No doubt, by stating that democracy cannot be reduced to a question of procedures to mediate among conflicting interests, deliberative democrats defend a conception of democracy that presents a richer conception of politics. But, albeit in a different way thanthe view they criticize, their vision is also a rationalist one which leaves aside the crucial role played by 'passions' and collective forms of identifications in the field of politics. Moreover, in their attempt to reconcile the liberal tradition with the democratic one, deliberative democrats tend to erase the tension that exist between liberalism and democracy and they are therefore unable to come to terms with the conflictual nature of democratic politics. The main thesis that I put forward in this article is that democratic theory needs to acknowledge the ineradicability of antagonism and the impossibility of achieving a fully inclusive rational consensus. I argue that a model of democracy in terms of 'agonistic pluralism' can help us to better envisage the main challenge facing democratic politics today: how to create democratic forms of identifications that will contribute to mobilize passions towards democratic designs.;
1,338 citations
TL;DR: Public diplomacy, as the diplomacy of the public, not of the government, intervenes in this global public sphere, laying the ground for traditional forms of diplomacy to act beyond the strict negotiation of power relationships by building on shared... as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The public sphere is the space of communication of ideas and projects that emerge from society and are addressed to the decision makers in the institutions of society. The global civil society is the organized expression of the values and interests of society. The relationships between government and civil society and their interaction via the public sphere define the polity of society. The process of globalization has shifted the debate from the national domain to the global debate, prompting the emergence of a global civil society and of ad hoc forms of global governance. Accordingly, the public sphere as the space of debate on public affairs has also shifted from the national to the global and is increasingly constructed around global communication networks. Public diplomacy, as the diplomacy of the public, not of the government, intervenes in this global public sphere, laying the ground for traditional forms of diplomacy to act beyond the strict negotiation of power relationships by building on shared...
936 citations
Book•
05 Oct 2012
TL;DR: Tweets and the Streets as mentioned in this paper examines the relationship between the rise of social media and the emergence of new forms of protest, arguing that activists' use of Twitter and Facebook does not fit with the image of a "cyberspace" detached from physical reality.
Abstract: Tweets and the Streets analyses the culture of the new protest movements of the 21st century. From the Arab Spring to the "indignados" protests in Spain and the Occupy movement, Paolo Gerbaudo examines the relationship between the rise of social media and the emergence of new forms of protest. Gerbaudo argues that activists' use of Twitter and Facebook does not fit with the image of a "cyberspace" detached from physical reality. Instead, social media is used as part of a project of re-appropriation of public space, which involves the assembling of different groups around "occupied" places such as Cairo's Tahrir Square or New York's Zuccotti Park. An exciting and invigorating journey through the new politics of dissent, Tweets and the Streets points both to the creative possibilities and to the risks of political evanescence which new media brings to the contemporary protest experience.
911 citations