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: The authors considers the challenges that neoliberalism raises for conceptual models and practices of a multiple public sphere, and considers resistance to neoliberalism may arise in the networked locals of a MOP.
Abstract: This essay considers the challenges that neoliberalism raises for conceptual models and practices of a multiple public sphere. Engaging difference and attending to inequality, a multiple public sphere facilitates the circulation of a dynamic public good that may articulate mutual standing and relationships among people to enable the construction of a collective “we” for coordinated action. Weakening relationships among people and devaluing coordinated action, neoliberalism envisions a public of atomistic individuals who compete with one another for comparative advantage. Flattening difference and obscuring inequality, a neoliberal public presumes a universal subject that obscures its own particularity and discounts the uneven burdens faced by those who cannot seamlessly identify with its mode of subjectivity. Further, for a neoliberal public, inequality serves as the condition and end of competition. Resistance to neoliberalism may arise in the networked locals of a multiple public sphere, as advo...
65 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an analytical model is developed that categorises three distinct conceptions of the Union and spells out the different roles civil society may take in each of them to render the EU more democratic.
65 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...…civil society is ‘‘composed of those more or less spontaneous emergent associations, organisations, and movements that, attuned to how societal problems resonate in the private life sphere, distil and transmit such reactions in amplified form to the public sphere’’ (Habermas, 1996, p. 367)....
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...‘‘a communication structure rooted in the lifeworld through the associational network of civil society’’ (Habermas, 1996, p. 359)....
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TL;DR: The European Commission's White Paper on Governance as mentioned in this paper focused attention, in a rather preliminary manner, on the role that civil society could and should play in the process of further democratizing decision-making in the European Union.
Abstract: The European Commission’s White Paper on Governance in July 2001 focused attention, in a rather preliminary manner, on the role that ‘civil society’ could and should play in the process of further democratizing decision-making in the European Union. ‘Civil society’ has itself been trying to make this point for some years in the European context and now seems to have acquired some institutional allies in that regard. The European Economic and Social Committee has in particular been very focused and vocal in recent years, maintaining that the institutional ‘home’ for civil society should be within its putatively deliberative and inclusive structures. This rather corporatist view of fitting increasing civil society interest and activity into the existing interest representation model of the EU, which is shared by the Commission, risks ignoring the much more political role that certain strands of civil society are seeking: namely a space in which deliberation can publicly take place on values and policies.
64 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...It is this transformation of social (civil) dialogue that can be of such significance to democratic theory (Habermas, 1996)....
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...The current usage of the term ‘civil society’ on the whole no longer includes the economy as constituted by private law and steered through markets (Habermas, 1996)....
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...Institutionalized opinion and will-formation processes of the demos thus depend on supplies coming from the informal contexts of communication found in civil society (Habermas, 1996)....
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TL;DR: The authors argue that the asymmetrical mediated communication of the broad democratic public sphere can profitably be understood through the lens of deliberative democracy only if we adopt a system approach to deliberation.
Abstract: In this paper, I argue that the asymmetrical mediated communication of the broad democratic public sphere can profitably be understood through the lens of deliberative democracy only if we adopt a system approach to deliberation. A system approach, however, often introduces a division of labor between ordinary citizens and experts (knowledgeable elites). Although this division of labor is unavoidable and I believe compatible with a deliberative principle of legitimacy, it flirts with elitist theories of democracy: epistemic elites come up with the agendas, ideas, and policy positions and democratic publics ratify or repudiate the agendas but do not generate or really engage with them. This I argue would violate an essential defining feature of deliberative democracy, namely that epistemic quality and equal participation are tightly linked. I turn to Habermas and his idea of a feedback loop as a possible solution to this dilemma.
64 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...…decision-making institutions (Assemblies and Parliaments) play an essential role at the center (or sometimes at the top depending on what spatial metaphor he is using) of a complex system that fans out through ever more informal types of communication until we get to everyday talk (Habermas 1996)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse which of the state powers prefer which form of legitimacy of international institutions, whether their general conceptions of legitimacy diverge or converge, and what this means for the future of global governance.
Abstract: International institutions have developed into a site of political authority of their own as can be seen by looking at a number of authority indicators. The concept of international authority, however, is intimately bound to the concept of legitimacy. The stronger the role that international institutions play in policymaking, the stronger the demands for their legitimacy that can be expected to arise. Against this background, we ask which of the state powers analysed in this special issue prefer which form of legitimation of international institutions, whether their general conceptions of legitimacy diverge or converge, and what this means for the future of global governance.
63 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...democratic legitimacy and is based on the idea that such debates will unveil particularistic views so that the force of the better argument will succeed (Habermas, 1996)....
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...Politics © 2010 Political Studies Association POLITICS: 2010 VOL 30(S1) democratic legitimacy and is based on the idea that such debates will unveil particularistic views so that the force of the better argument will succeed (Habermas, 1996)....
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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