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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
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that misbehavior of organizations and their members cannot be addressed properly without a clear understanding of their broader context (the larder), and they argue that the first step toward 'healthier' apples and barrels is to sanitize the larders, that is, adapt the framework in which organizations and members evolve, whereas previously, a strong societal framework dampened the practical application of the Homo economicus concept.
Abstract: Every time another corporate scandal captures media headlines, the 'bad apple vs. bad barrel' discussion starts anew. Yet this debate overlooks the influence of the broader societal context on organizational behavior. In this article, we argue that misbehaviors of organizations (the 'barrels') and their members (the 'apples') cannot be addressed properly without a clear understanding of their broader context (the 'larder'). Whereas previously, a strong societal framework dampened the practical application of the Homo economicus concept (business actors as perfectly rational and egocentric utility-maximizing agents without any moral concern), specialization, individualization and globalization led to a business world disembedded from broader societal norms. This emancipated business world promotes a literal interpretation of Homo economicus among business organizations and their members. Consequently, we argue that the first step toward 'healthier' apples and barrels is to sanitize the larder, that is, adapt the framework in which organizations and their members evolve.Chaque fois qu'un nouveau scandale fait la une des medias, la question de savoir si le probleme se situe au niveau des individus (des 'pommes isolees') ou au niveau des organisations (les 'caisses de pommes') refait surface. Ce debat tend neanmoins a sous-estimer l'influence du contexte societal plus large sur le comportement dans les organisations. Dans cet article, nous soutenons l'idee que les scandales ethiques dans les organisations ou parmi leurs membres ne peuvent etre compris correctement sans une vision plus precise de leur contexte plus large (la 'cave a pommes'). Si dans le passe un contexte societal fort permettait d'adoucir les applications pratiques de l'Homo economicus (qui considere l'acteur economique comme un agent parfaitement rationnel et egocentrique cherchant a maximiser son utilite sans reflexion morale), l'individualisation et la globalisation ont conduit a un monde economique desencastre et deconnecte des normes sociales plus larges. Ce monde economique autonome promouvoit une interpretation litterale de l'Homo economicus parmi les entreprises et leurs employes. Il en resulte que le premier pas vers des pommes moins pourries passe par un assainissement de la cave, c'est-a-dire l'adoption d'un cadre socio-normatif qui permet un recadrage du contexte dans lequel les organisations economiques et leurs acteurs agissent.

55 citations


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

  • ...Building on his theory of discourse ethics, Habermas (1996) highlighted the fact that the normative foundations of society are to be found in the intersubjective processes of public will formation in which citizens develop a shared political understanding....

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  • ...…Ltd36 Yet the flip side of increased individual freedom is that the formerly homogeneous and coherent background of societal norms is being challenged by the presence of a plurality of worldviews that result from the manifold individual identity projects (Beck 1992, Giddens 1994, Habermas 1996)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A variety of theoretical frameworks ranging from conceptual classifications to synoptic speculations to causal accounts of state building are available for this intellectual work as mentioned in this paper, which may or may not be consistent with actual developments worldwide and are provocative in their implications.
Abstract: Governments everywhere are engaged in self-conscious projects of administrative and managerial improvement. Scholars of public management thus confront a fascinating array of talk, conjectures, and facts on administrative and managerial change that can be assembled from myriad sources. There are as well stylized facts, stories, conjectures, and ideological glosses – these might be termed ‘theory substitutes’ – that may or may not be consistent with actual developments worldwide and which are provocative in their implications. Our goal as scholars of governance and management must be to penetrate appearances to ascertain whatever lessons and meanings might lie beneath. A variety of theoretical frameworks ranging from conceptual classifications to synoptic speculations to causal accounts of state building are available for this intellectual work.

54 citations


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

  • ...Habermas notes that ‘even in established democracies, the existing institutions of freedom are no longer above challenge, although here the populations seem to press for more democracy rather than less’ (Habermas 1996: xlii)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the contribution to the development of global deliberative democracy that could be made by Deliberative Global Citizens' Assemblies of ordinary citizens drawn from all the countries of the world.
Abstract: is widespread recognition of a democratic deficit in global governance. While recognizing this deficit is easy, remedying it is going to be hard. Many existing proposals for global democratization are not very imaginative in that they begin from the assumption that the model for global democracy already exists in something like the form already taken by developed liberal democracies. One of the more prominent such models is the 'popularly elected global assembly' or PEGA. We accept the basic justifications for global democracy advanced by PEGA campaigners, but believe there is a need to move beyond facile invocations of electoral democracy at the global level. We examine the contribution to the development of global deliberative democracy that could be made by Deliberative Global Citizens' Assemblies of ordinary citizens drawn from all the countries of the world. Such assemblies would be both deliberative and composed of ordinary citizens of the world - not elected politicians. We do not proclaim this kind of innovation as the solution to the problem of effective and democratically legitimate global governance. Rather, we call for its exploration as a complement to existing international institutions and a focal point for global deliberative systems.

54 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the conceptual limitations of the rights-based development nexus and the limitations of donor capacity to engage with these ‘radical’ critiques, and propose an approach toward resolving these criticisms, drawing on the implications of rights for the political act of public reasoning.
Abstract: This article examines the ‘right to development’ and ‘rights-based approaches to development’, highlighting how each defines development and the degree to which they have been adopted by official donors in their policies and programs. The article then focuses on criticisms relating to justice, participation, empowerment and agency that uncover both the conceptual limitations of the rights–development nexus and the limitations of donor capacity to engage with these ‘radical’ critiques. An approach toward resolving these criticisms, drawing on the implications of rights for the political act of public reasoning and transnational ‘citizenship’, is briefly set out in the final section of the article under the broad title of rights-based development.

54 citations


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

  • ...…of a deliberative form of global politics, or ‘transnational discursive democracy’, picks up on and attempts to extend this network analysis by reference to a notion of exchange that draws on Habermas (1995) and the application of his ‘theory of communicative action’ to discursive politics....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines the presuppositions and theoretical frameworks of the post-Westphalian approach to international business ethics and compares it to the more philosophically oriented moral theory approach that has predominated in the field.
Abstract: This article examines the presuppositions and theoretical frameworks of the “new-wave” “Post-Westphalian” approach to international business ethics and compares it to the more philosophically oriented moral theory approach that has predominated in the field. I contrast one author’s Post-Westphalian political approach to the human rights responsibilities of transnational corporations (TNCs) with my own “Fair Share” theory of moral responsibility for human rights. I suggest how the debate about the meaning of corporate human rights “complicity” might be informed by the fair share theory. While I point out that Post-Westphalians and moral philosophers may have fundamental disagreements about basic concepts such as legitimacy, justice, and democratic deliberation, I conclude that the Post-Westphalians have made a major contribution to the expansion of the field by presenting business ethicists with an opportunity to inform and guide debates about the potential future course of transnational governance.

54 citations


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

  • ...In contrast, when the Post-Westphalian new-wave business ethicists discuss legitimacy and its relationship to deliberative democratic institutions, they are more likely to invoke Jürgen Habermas (Scherer and Palazzo 2007; Habermas 1996, 2001)....

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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