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.
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Dissertation•
01 Sep 2013
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined how the issue is represented in the television and print media in three European countries: the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Faroe Islands during two global conferences on climate change,COP15 and COP16.
Abstract: This study explores the mediatisation of political challenges involved in addressing climate change, in particular relation to the United Nations framework in place to tackle the issue. Climate change is one of the most urgent issues of our time and extensive international collaboration is required in order to deal with it appropriately. Due to the nature of climate change, this thesis argues that ethical considerations should be at the
core of public debates. Addressing climate change will require the implementation of drastic and often expensive measures, which might be particularly challenging to
‘western’ way of life. The media provides a crucial forum for debating the challenges climate change poses to our societies. This thesis examines how the issue is represented in the television and print media in three European countries: the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Faroe Islands during two global conferences on climate change,COP15 and COP16. This is backed up by examination of the ideal role of the media within liberal democracies and how such a role can be used as a benchmark against which
to measure coverage. The thesis applies an ethical lens to the three different national media and their treatment of climate change to explore how the issue is made meaningful
to the public. It examines the prominence of different ethical arguments – divided into cosmopolitan and communitarian positions - within public debates on climate change. It develops a comprehensive framework that identifies the key issues in the debate over climate change, and how ethical positions figure within them. Through the application of this analytical framework, this thesis seeks to shed light on the overall quality of public debate on the main issues around climate change in the respective countries. It also considers the extent to which media coverage in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Faroe Islands could represent an emerging transnational
public sphere on climate change. These questions are addressed through a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of climate change coverage. The approach deployed
means that the study is able to examine in a systematic fashion how values underpin the debate on climate change in the respective countries. This thesis also brings a much needed comparative dimension to the analysis of media coverage of climate change. The findings demonstrate that political ideology plays a stronger role in shaping coverage in the UK context, whilst its role is less significant in Denmark and the Faroe Islands. The analysis also identifies some strong similarities in coverage across the countries, both with respect to the quantity of coverage, the topics and values emphasised. In addition, the
thesis concludes that coverage across the three countries could indicate an emerging transnational public sphere on climate change.
19 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...As an essential component of the public sphere, the media play an important role in communicating ideas and connecting civil society and political institutions (Habermas 1996)....
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...As noted earlier, a healthy and broad-reaching public debate is considered crucial for the democratic process (Dahlgren 1995; Habermas 1996)....
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...They should also act as a platform for debate between civil society and governments (Curran 2005; Habermas 1996; McNair 2009)....
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...This in turn has negative implications for the quality of the public sphere (Habermas 1996)....
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TL;DR: In this article, a quantitative study of 161 massive open online courses (MOOCs) from three main platforms (Coursera, EdX and MiriadaX) with content on citizenship, citizen participation and/or sustainability is presented.
Abstract: Within globalization and the development of information and communication technologies (ICT), social and civic competence and sustainability take on a relevant role in the international scope. To this end, a theoretical section on citizenship models and the different fingerprints of sustainability is presented. The study is quantitative, with a sample of 161 massive open online courses (MOOCs) from three of the main platforms (Coursera, EdX and MiriadaX) with content on citizenship, citizen participation and/or sustainability. Both data collection and analysis are structured around a system of four categories: Technical dimension, didactic dimension, citizenship and sustainability. An exploratory analysis is carried out, followed by a factorial analysis focused on correlations and reduction of factors that allows us to define a main formative profile of the MOOC in relation to the reference themes. In this way, this research concludes that there is an international trend in MOOCs in citizenship and sustainability, whose predominant training proposals include contents related to the ecological citizenship model, as well as issues such as lack of resources, the need to reduce waste derived from consumption, climate change, or the impact of companies on the local economy and environment.
19 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...This citizenship model considers that participation may be motivated by the individual or the common good [24]....
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Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, it is suggested that global constitutionalism should be reconfigured in terms of what is called "organic globalconstitutionalism", which is defined as being defined by constitutionalism as process.
Abstract: Global constitutionalism is becoming increasingly prevalent in international legal discourse. While the various contributions to the debate give the impression of a seemingly complex and diverse debate, the contributions in fact all share some significant omissions and biases. It is argued here that the limitations, to be found in the disregard for processes such as fragmentation, and the biases, to be found through such realities as hegemony in international law, give rise to the necessity of a reconceptualisation of the global constitutional debate. It is suggested that global constitutionalism should be reconfigured in terms of what is called ‘organic global constitutionalism’. Organic global constitutionalism should be understood as being defined by constitutionalism as process, constitutionalism as political, constitutionalism as a ‘negative universal’, and constitutionalism as a promise for the future. These features would offer an alternative way of framing the debate and a means of redeeming the idea of global constitutionalism.
19 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that while pacts may not be particularly deliberative, they still occasion a great deal of deliberation across society as a whole, and they then outline a systemic framework that may be used to describe and evaluate the deliberative capacity of transitional regimes.
Abstract: In the transition literature, ‘free and fair elections’ is often treated as the most important indicator of democratic quality. In this paper, however, we argue that ‘free deliberation among equals’ is in many respects a more telling measure. On the face of it, this argument might strike one as implausible. After all, the decisive moment in many transitions is the signing of a pact between elements in the government and opposition who are more concerned to protect their own interests than to explain themselves to others. Yet while pacts may not be particularly deliberative, they still occasion a great deal of deliberation across society as a whole. We argue that the different sites where deliberation occurs can be understood as forming a deliberative system. To give substance to this idea, we then outline a systemic framework that may be used to describe and evaluate the deliberative capacity of transitional regimes. Finally, we turn to the cases of Venezuela and Poland to illustrate the empirical applica...
19 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...In the second section, we draw on the emerging ‘deliberative systems’ literature (Habermas 1996, 204–308; Dryzek 2010, 2011; Mansbridge et al. 2012) to outline a novel framework for describing or characterising the spaces where deliberation occurs and how they relate to each other, and for…...
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...…capacity, whatneedstobeassessedisnotjustthedeliberativecharacterofthepactonwhichitrests, but the degree to which the pact encourages or stymies deliberation at other points or locations in the broader ‘deliberative system’ (Habermas 1996, 204–308; Dryzek 2010, 2011; Mansbridge et al. 2012)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors confront Jurgen Habermas' deliberative model of democracy with Claude Lefort's analysis of democracy as a regime in which the locus of power remains an empty place.
Abstract: In this article I confront Jurgen Habermas' deliberative model of democracy with Claude Lefort's analysis of democracy as a regime in which the locus of power remains an empty place. This confronta...
19 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...(Habermas, 1996: 157) The volitional moment that constitutes the non-discursive remainder in the actual exercise of communicative power differentiates real power from the purely communicative ideal of the reasonable consensus....
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...In the political instead of the moral context, the structure of deliberation as a procedure of elaboration is clearly present in Habermas’ analysis of the democratic state as a constitutional project (Habermas, 1996: 126–31, 443–6, 488–90)....
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...The unity involved in this kind of political integration requires and generates bonds of solidarity which Habermas has described as the bonds of constitutional patriotism (Habermas, 1996: 500; 1998: 118, 225)....
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...(Habermas, 1996: 179) However, the interruption of the deliberation is not simply the result of institutional pressures, as Habermas here suggests....
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...This principle states unambiguously that ‘Just those action norms are valid to which all possibly affected persons could agree as participants in rational discourses’ (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