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Journal Article

Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy

01 Feb 1997-Review of Metaphysics-Vol. 51, Iss: 1, pp 153-155
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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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jun 2008-Futures
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated drivers of change in the shifting knowledge landscape, and note disparate drivers that plot different courses for transdisciplinarity, including the knowledge economy, the environmental imperative, and the engaged populace.

194 citations


Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."

  • ...As parliamentary democracy is weakened, other forms of democracy, such as deliberative and participatory democracy, are put forward as important political institutions, particularly in a globalising world [59]....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the democratic values of community garden leaders and non-leaders with the intent to understand the democratic effects of participation in community gardening. But they found that time spent in a community garden was a stronger predictor of political citizenship orientations than was time spent talking and visiting with other community gardeners.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare the democratic values of community garden leaders and non-leaders with the intent to understand the democratic effects of participation in community gardening. The results support Putnam's (2000) assertion that the intensity of membership in voluntary associations is important to the development of democratic citizens. Moreover, the findings reveal the salience of context, namely a leisure-oriented context, in imbuing democratic values. Time spent in a community garden was a stronger, albeit weak, predictor of political citizenship orientations than was time spent talking and visiting with other community gardeners, which implied the significance of the garden space and its public sphere effects.

193 citations


Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."

  • ...Through communication, members of voluntary associations come to understand each other and affirm their understanding of each other’s meanings and intentions (Habermas, 1991, 1996)....

    [...]

  • ...That both leaders and gardeners proved to have relatively strong democratic values was in keeping with Hemingway’s (1999b) belief that “leisure would seem to be a significant filter through which those who would take an interest and be active in political action must necessarily pass” (p. 501). Even general participation in community gardening is typically regarded as a civic act, so it makes sense that study participants would report strong democratic values. Not surprisingly, leaders reported significantly stronger political orientations than did gardeners. In doing so, they supported Putnam’s (2000) assertion that the intensity of membership in voluntary associations is important to the development of democratic citizens, if one accepts that the roles of leader and gardener reflect different intensity levels. Evidently, the more active and invested in the project, at least with respect to leadership, the stronger the political orientation/democratic values. Despite the theoretical relationship between sociability and democracy, the association between the social behavior of community garden participants and their political citizenship orientations was mixed. Surprisingly, social interactions associated with talking and visiting with other community gardeners during a typical week were unrelated to political citizenship, even though they presumably reaffirmed the sociable bonds among fellow community gardeners. The absence of a strong relationship is curious given that from such social interaction flows attitudes such as specific trust and tolerance, which are clearly significant for democratic citizenship. By contrast, time spent in the garden during which participants presumably interacted together in a social manner was a positive correlate with political citizenship, as well as a weak predictor. Given that the actual act of community gardening is more civically oriented than is general social contact, the results made intuitive sense. Notably, they suggested the context in which the social contact took place was salient. Not only did the intensity of participation matter, in terms of the time people spent in the garden (Putnam, 2000), but context mattered. With respect to the democratic values of community garden participants, presumably the garden space was an important venue because of its public sphere effects. Community gardening facilitated social interactions among participants and concentrated them on matters associated, perhaps only tangentially, to the community garden. The leisure dimension of community gardening presumably added to this effect. As Rojek (1999) pointed out, “the culture [of leisure] encourages people to be relaxed, to speak their minds, and be themselves” (p....

    [...]

  • ...That both leaders and gardeners proved to have relatively strong democratic values was in keeping with Hemingway’s (1999b) belief that “leisure would seem to be a significant filter through which those who would take an interest and be active in political action must necessarily pass” (p. 501). Even general participation in community gardening is typically regarded as a civic act, so it makes sense that study participants would report strong democratic values. Not surprisingly, leaders reported significantly stronger political orientations than did gardeners. In doing so, they supported Putnam’s (2000) assertion that the intensity of membership in voluntary associations is important to the development of democratic citizens, if one accepts that the roles of leader and gardener reflect different intensity levels. Evidently, the more active and invested in the project, at least with respect to leadership, the stronger the political orientation/democratic values. Despite the theoretical relationship between sociability and democracy, the association between the social behavior of community garden participants and their political citizenship orientations was mixed. Surprisingly, social interactions associated with talking and visiting with other community gardeners during a typical week were unrelated to political citizenship, even though they presumably reaffirmed the sociable bonds among fellow community gardeners. The absence of a strong relationship is curious given that from such social interaction flows attitudes such as specific trust and tolerance, which are clearly significant for democratic citizenship. By contrast, time spent in the garden during which participants presumably interacted together in a social manner was a positive correlate with political citizenship, as well as a weak predictor. Given that the actual act of community gardening is more civically oriented than is general social contact, the results made intuitive sense. Notably, they suggested the context in which the social contact took place was salient. Not only did the intensity of participation matter, in terms of the time people spent in the garden (Putnam, 2000), but context mattered. With respect to the democratic values of community garden participants, presumably the garden space was an important venue because of its public sphere effects. Community gardening facilitated social interactions among participants and concentrated them on matters associated, perhaps only tangentially, to the community garden. The leisure dimension of community gardening presumably added to this effect. As Rojek (1999) pointed out, “the culture [of leisure] encourages people to be relaxed, to speak their minds, and be themselves” (p. 87). In other words, participation in the gardens likely involved chatting with other gardeners informally while participating in a presumably enjoyable activity. In this fashion, time spent in garden was conceivably a combination of social and civic activity. While interacting with others, participation in the gardens may have facilitated social exchange and heightened critical consciousness about neighborhood issues, which potentially prompted participants to adopt and practice democratic values. As Rojek (1999) reminded us, “leisure is a cultural activity with a determinate network of rules of relaxation and exchange” (p. 87). Thus, the community garden appeared to offer a truly free venue in which participants could deliberate and address issues of collective importance. While Hemingway (1999b) noted, “political activity of all kinds is carried on within leisure contexts” (p. 501), he also added, as did Shaw (2001), that (leisure) behavior can be unintentionally political....

    [...]

  • ...That both leaders and gardeners proved to have relatively strong democratic values was in keeping with Hemingway’s (1999b) belief that “leisure would seem to be a significant filter through which those who would take an interest and be active in political action must necessarily pass” (p....

    [...]

  • ...That both leaders and gardeners proved to have relatively strong democratic values was in keeping with Hemingway’s (1999b) belief that “leisure would seem to be a significant filter through which those who would take an interest and be active in political action must necessarily pass” (p. 501). Even general participation in community gardening is typically regarded as a civic act, so it makes sense that study participants would report strong democratic values. Not surprisingly, leaders reported significantly stronger political orientations than did gardeners. In doing so, they supported Putnam’s (2000) assertion that the intensity of membership in voluntary associations is important to the development of democratic citizens, if one accepts that the roles of leader and gardener reflect different intensity levels. Evidently, the more active and invested in the project, at least with respect to leadership, the stronger the political orientation/democratic values. Despite the theoretical relationship between sociability and democracy, the association between the social behavior of community garden participants and their political citizenship orientations was mixed. Surprisingly, social interactions associated with talking and visiting with other community gardeners during a typical week were unrelated to political citizenship, even though they presumably reaffirmed the sociable bonds among fellow community gardeners. The absence of a strong relationship is curious given that from such social interaction flows attitudes such as specific trust and tolerance, which are clearly significant for democratic citizenship. By contrast, time spent in the garden during which participants presumably interacted together in a social manner was a positive correlate with political citizenship, as well as a weak predictor. Given that the actual act of community gardening is more civically oriented than is general social contact, the results made intuitive sense. Notably, they suggested the context in which the social contact took place was salient. Not only did the intensity of participation matter, in terms of the time people spent in the garden (Putnam, 2000), but context mattered. With respect to the democratic values of community garden participants, presumably the garden space was an important venue because of its public sphere effects. Community gardening facilitated social interactions among participants and concentrated them on matters associated, perhaps only tangentially, to the community garden. The leisure dimension of community gardening presumably added to this effect. As Rojek (1999) pointed out, “the culture [of leisure] encourages people to be relaxed, to speak their minds, and be themselves” (p. 87). In other words, participation in the gardens likely involved chatting with other gardeners informally while participating in a presumably enjoyable activity. In this fashion, time spent in garden was conceivably a combination of social and civic activity. While interacting with others, participation in the gardens may have facilitated social exchange and heightened critical consciousness about neighborhood issues, which potentially prompted participants to adopt and practice democratic values. As Rojek (1999) reminded us, “leisure is a cultural activity with a determinate network of rules of relaxation and exchange” (p. 87). Thus, the community garden appeared to offer a truly free venue in which participants could deliberate and address issues of collective importance. While Hemingway (1999b) noted, “political activity of all kinds is carried on within leisure contexts” (p....

    [...]

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this paper, a critical research agenda for the political perspective of corporate social responsibility (Political CSR) has been proposed, arguing that whilst the political CSR literature is notable for both its conceptual novelty and practical importance, its development has been hamstrung by four ambiguities, conflations and/or oversights.
Abstract: I here advance a critical research agenda for the political perspective of corporate social responsibility (Political CSR). I argue that whilst the ‘Political’ CSR literature is notable for both its conceptual novelty and practical importance, its development has been hamstrung by four ambiguities, conflations and/or oversights. More positively, I argue that ‘Political’ CSR should be conceived as one potential form of globalization, and not as a consequence of ‘globalization’; that contemporary Western MNCs should be presumed to engage in CSR for instrumental reasons; that ‘Political’ CSR should be associated with a corresponding ‘political’ model of corporate governance; and that both a ‘Rawlsian’ and ‘Habermasian’ perspective of Political CSR are different from ‘Political’ CSR. In concluding, I use these four critiques to identify a number of areas within which increasingly robust and sophisticated positive and normative theories of Political CSR are required.

182 citations

01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: This paper proposes a new methodology for measuring the link structure surrounding political Web sites, based on a large literature in computer science that ties a site’s visibility to the number of inbound hyperlinks it receives.
Abstract: Claims about the Web and politics have commonly confounded two dierent things: retrievability and visibility, the large universe of pages that could theoretically be accessed versus those that citizens are most likely to encounter. While the governing assumption of much previous work has been that retrievability would translate inexorably into visibility, we cast doubt on that claim. Drawing on a large literature in computer science that ties a site’s visibility to the number of inbound hyperlinks it receives, this paper proposes a new methodology for measuring the link structure surrounding political Web sites. Our technique involves iterative, extremely largescale crawls away from political sites easily accessible through popular online search tools, and it uses sophisticated automated methods to categorize site content. In every community we examine, we

180 citations


Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."

  • ...…a great deal of scholarly interest in “deliberative democracy”— in the claim that properly structured public debate can increase political legitimacy, build social capital, and transform the identity of citizens in positive ways (Gutmann and Thompson (1996); Habermas (1996); Mansbridge (1984))....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors sketch an alternative strategy based on the question: What kinds of problems do a political system need to solve to count as "democratic" and suggest three general kinds: it should empower inclusions, form collective agendas and wills, and have capacities to make collective decisions.
Abstract: Over the last few decades, democratic theory has grown dramatically in its power and sophistication, fueled by debates among models of democracy. But these debates are increasingly unproductive. Model-based strategies encourage theorists to overgeneralize the place and functions of ideal typical features of democracy, such as deliberation or elections. Here I sketch an alternative strategy based on the question: What kinds of problems does a political system need to solve to count as “democratic”? I suggest three general kinds: it should empower inclusions, form collective agendas and wills, and have capacities to make collective decisions. We can view common practices such as voting and deliberating as means for addressing these problems, and theorize institutional mixes of practices that would maximize a political system's democratic problem-solving capacities. The resulting theories will be both normatively robust and sufficiently fine-grained to frame democratic problems, possibilities, and deficits in complex polities.

180 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
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

Journal ArticleDOI
Archon Fung1
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

Journal ArticleDOI
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