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: This paper will outline a social theory of the “smart city” by developing the Deleuzian concept of the "spectrum of control" by presenting two illustrative examples: biometric surveillance as a form of monitoring, and automated policing as a particularly brutal and exacting form of manipulation.
Abstract: There is a certain allure to the idea that cities allow a person to both feel at home and like a stranger in the same place. That one can know the streets and shops, avenues and alleys, while also going days without being recognized. But as elites fill cities with “smart” technologies — turning them into platforms for the “Internet of Things” (IoT): sensors and computation embedded within physical objects that then connect, communicate, and/or transmit information with or between each other through the Internet — there is little escape from a seamless web of surveillance and power. This paper will outline a social theory of the “smart city” by developing our Deleuzian concept of the “spectrum of control.” We present two illustrative examples: biometric surveillance as a form of monitoring, and automated policing as a particularly brutal and exacting form of manipulation. We conclude by offering normative guidelines for governance of the pervasive surveillance and control mechanisms that constitute an emerging critical infrastructure of the “smart city.”
163 citations
Additional excerpts
... Habermas, 1996, p. 306....
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TL;DR: Public participation has become a central element of planning activity over the last decades as discussed by the authors, and the planning literature has given considerable attention to participation in theory and practice, discu-...
Abstract: Public participation has become a central element of planning activity over the last decades. The planning literature has given considerable attention to participation in theory and practice, discu...
159 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...…of acceptable decisions and enhance the quality of decisions and their legitimacy (Offe and Preuss 1991; NRC 1996; Dryzek 1997; McLaverty 2002; Innes and Booher 2000, 2002; Susskind et al. 1999), as well as the legitimacy of government institutions (Habermas 1996; Cohen 1997; Raimond 2001)....
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...1999), as well as the legitimacy of government institutions (Habermas 1996; Cohen 1997; Raimond 2001)....
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TL;DR: The European Commission's new governance strategy, which was launched at the beginning of the century, varies according to normative standards set by different theories of democracy on the one hand and to the confidence in the malleability of society on the other as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: European integration has added an extra dimension to the perceived crisis of contemporary democracy. Many observers argue that the allocation of decision-making powers beyond the nation state bears the risk of hollowing out the institutional mechanisms of democratic accountability. In EU governance, the Commission has emerged as a particularly active and imaginative actor promoting EU–society relations, and it has done so with the explicit desire to improve the democratic legitimacy of the EU. However, assumptions concerning the societal prerequisites of a working democracy differ with the normative theory of democracy employed. Therefore, expectations concerning the beneficial effect of institutional reforms such as the European Commission's new governance strategy, which was launched at the beginning of the century, vary according to normative standards set by different theories of democracy on the one hand and to the confidence in the malleability of society on the other. Our contribution seek...
157 citations
Cites background or methods from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...We will draw on the theory of deliberative democracy as constituted by Jürgen Habermas (Habermas, 1996; Bohman, 1996; Dryzek, 1990; 2000)....
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...Habermas conceptualizes the public sphere as a ‘communication structure rooted in the lifeworld through the associational network of civil society’ (Habermas, 1996, p. 359)....
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...…the democratic governance of the EU multi-level system.10 For this reason, we decided to substantiate the functional conception of participation by taking recourse to the theory of deliberative democracy as advocated by Jürgen Habermas and others (Bohman, 1996; Dryzek, 1990; 2000; Habermas, 1996)....
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...We take the elite character of EU level participation into account and seek to analyse in what ways this type of societal participation contributes to the democratic governance of the EU multi-level system.10 For this reason, we decided to substantiate the functional conception of participation by taking recourse to the theory of deliberative democracy as advocated by Jürgen Habermas and others (Bohman, 1996; Dryzek, 1990; 2000; Habermas, 1996)....
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...We will draw on the theory of deliberative democracy as constituted by Jürgen Habermas (Habermas, 1996; Bohman, 1996; Dryzek, 1990; 2000)....
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TL;DR: The risk society theory as mentioned in this paper argues that we are living in a second, reflexive age of modernity, or risk society, characterized by an omnipresence of low probability-high consequence technological risks.
Abstract: This article offers a review and exploration of the parameters of the risk society. The primary focus is on the theoretical works of German sociologist Ulrich Beck and British sociologist Anthony Giddens, and in particular, their claim that we are living in a second, reflexive age of modernity, or risk society, characterized by an omnipresence of low probability—high consequence technological risks. The article concludes that the theorists of the risk society succeed in their goal of raising important questions for reflection and for future research. The risk society thesis succeeds in describing the emergence of a risk ethos, the development of a collective risk identity and the formation of communities united by an increasing vulnerability to risk. It draws attention to how the essentialist nature of risk has been transformed and how the origins and impact of risk have been reassessed. The theory points to a reconfiguration in the way risk is identified, evaluated, communicated and governed. The risk society expands the traditional concept of risk understood as the sum of the probability of an adverse event and the magnitude of the consequences, to include the subjective perception of risk, the inter-subjective communication of risk and the social experience of living in a risk environment. Finally, the theorists of the risk society succeed in iterating that it is not just health and the environment that are at risk, but in addition, the fundamental sociopolitical values of liberty, equality, justice, rights and democracy are now at risk.
156 citations
Cites methods from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...Beck’s recommendation is analogous to Habermas’s model of deliberative democracy, which aims to achieve a general consensus through communicative action and the force of reason (Habermas, 1996)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess three explicit strategies (based on three logics of political integration) as possible solutions to the European Union's legitimacy problems and assess how robust such an alternative is and how salient it is, as opposed to the other two strategies.
Abstract: In this article, we assess three explicit strategies (based on three logics of political integration) as possible solutions to the European Union's legitimacy problems. The first strategy amounts to a scaling down of the ambitions of the polity-makers in the European Union (EU). The second strategy emphasizes the need to deepen the collective self-understanding of Europeans. These two modes of legitimation figure strongly in the debate on aspects of the EU, but both have become problematic. The third strategy concentrates on the need to readjust and heighten the ambitions of the polity-makers so as to make the EU into a federal multicultural union founded on basic rights and democratic decision-making procedures. Taking stock of the ongoing constitution-making process, the authors ask how robust such an alternative is and how salient it is, as opposed to the other two strategies.
153 citations
Cites methods from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...Reasons make a difference (Habermas, 1996)....
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...According to the criteria of discourse theory, only a norm that has been approved in free and open debate is valid (Habermas, 1996: 107)....
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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