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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TL;DR: In this article, an integrative review proposes a discursive conception of the politics of memory and argues that research into political memory should focus on the substantive content of collective memory as expressed by actors within state institutions and on the interactive channels through which ideas about the past are conveyed, disputed, silenced, and negotiated outside these formal settings.
Abstract: Politicians frequently make use of mythologized understandings of the past to mobilize memory as an instrument of politics in the present. Despite the postwar “memory boom”, collective remembrance remains a slippery concept. In politics, collective memory exerts its influence both from the bottom up, as interpretations of the past affect the identities and understandings of political elites, as well as from the top down, as statements by public figures place certain events into the national consciousness while silencing or forgetting others. In addition to summarizing the existing literature, this integrative review proposes a discursive conception of the politics of memory. I argue that research into political memory should focus on (1) the substantive content of collective memory as expressed by actors within state institutions and (2) on the interactive channels through which ideas about the past are conveyed, disputed, silenced, and negotiated outside these formal settings. I substantiate this argumen...
59 citations
Cites background from "Between Facts and Norms: Contributi..."
...Although Habermas (1989, 1996) builds a broader theory of democratic legitimacy on the idea that the formal institutions of will-formation must remain connected and responsive to the process of opinion-formation within the informal public sphere, the image of sluices is also useful for…...
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...Peters (quoted in Habermas 1996, 356) conceives of the interaction between the two as a system of sluices through which many processes in the sphere of the political-legal system must pass, but the center controls the direction and dynamics of these processes only to a limited degree....
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TL;DR: In a lecture given at the inauguration ceremony for the new Advisory Centre on WTO Law as mentioned in this paper, the authors described the broader world trading landscape into which this new Centre emerges and provided a brief analysis of the current trade policy climate, asserting the necessity of institutions for the successful functioning of markets.
Abstract: This article, based on a lecture given at the inauguration ceremony for the new Advisory Centre on WTO Law, describes the broader world trading landscape into which this new Centre emerges Taking into account the possible implications of the events on September 11, this article provides a brief analysis of the current trade policy climate, asserting the necessity of institutions for the successful functioning of markets After a short institutional history of the GATT/WTO, the author describes the importance of institutional rules, treaty text, and practice for the success of the WTO and presents the current debate over what the scope of this institution has been, is now, and could be in the future – the debate over which important issues should be taken under the WTO umbrella, and, further, which issues are appropriate to send to the Dispute Settlement System Finally, this article illustrates the challenges facing this dispute settlement system, proposals for reform, and the vital role that the new Advisory Centre may be able to play in resolving some of these challenges
59 citations
TL;DR: The authors The intellectual foundations of the modern American 1 1/2scal state 53 John Jacob Kaag Pragmatism & the lessons of experience 63 Christopher Klemek The rise & fall of New Left urbanism 73 Jason Puskar Risking Ralph Ellison 83 Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh Reconciling American archaeology & Native America 94 Sharon K. Weiner Competing organizational interests & Soviet wmd expertise 105 Paul K. MacDonald Rebalancing American foreign policy 115 Crystal N. Feimster The threat of sexual violence during the American Civil War 126 Crystal
Abstract: David Greenberg The presidential debates as political ritual 6 Hsuan L. Hsu & Martha Lincoln Health media & global inequalities 20 Sarah Song What does it mean to be an American? 31 Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen Anti-intellectualism as romantic discourse 41 Ajay K. Mehrotra The intellectual foundations of the modern American 1⁄2scal state 53 John Jacob Kaag Pragmatism & the lessons of experience 63 Christopher Klemek The rise & fall of New Left urbanism 73 Jason Puskar Risking Ralph Ellison 83 Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh Reconciling American archaeology & Native America 94 Sharon K. Weiner Competing organizational interests & Soviet wmd expertise 105 Paul K. MacDonald Rebalancing American foreign policy 115 Crystal N. Feimster The threat of sexual violence during the American Civil War 126
59 citations
TL;DR: In the case of Bolivia, the authors analyzes when and why marginalized groups gain access to political power and explains why women and indigenous women remain divided over reserved seats and the project of indigenous autonomy.
Abstract: Focusing on the case of Bolivia, this paper analyzes when and why marginalized groups gain access to political power. The country’s experience is puzzling. Though we would have expected the indigenous-led government that came to power in early 2006 to be more receptive to the claims of indigenous movements than to women, the opposite occurred. Indigenous groups received a mere five percent of parliamentary seats and women got a gender parity law. What explains these different results of women’s and indigenous demands for political inclusion? Adopting an intersectional approach, we view marginalized groups not as a single category but as a collection of categories. Rather than a premise of politics, group unity is a political achievement. While women overcame divisions between white, urban feminists and indigenous women from popular sectors to lobby for gender parity, the indigenous movement remained divided over reserved seats and the project of indigenous autonomy more generally. Our analysis helps explain why quotas have brought women into power but not changed other features of politics and why empowerment has produced new hierarchies within the indigenous movement.
58 citations
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