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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01 Jan 2006
2,797 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
References
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TL;DR: The authors argue that such media can serve an important journalistic and cultural role in providing politically and economically marginalized readers with an alternative public space or sphere in which to articulate issues pertinent to their lived social, political, and economic realities.
Abstract: While the tabloid press in Africa has often been criticized for undermining the normative functions of journalism and depoliticizing readers, there has been little attempt to theorize the reasons for its rapid growth in popularity. Drawing on qualitative research methods, principally qualitative content analysis and indepth interviews, with Bulawayo readers of the Zimbabwean vernacular (isiNdebele) tabloid newspaper uMthunywa, this article argues that such media can serve an important journalistic and cultural role. In particular, as this article will demonstrate, they can provide politically and economically marginalized readers with an alternative public space or sphere in which to articulate issues pertinent to their lived social, political, and economic realities
25 citations
Dissertation•
12 May 2014
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the classical integration theories such as dual intergovernmental/supranational paradigms have lost their strength as they fail to understand the EU in its own right, and do not possess the ability to explain the phenomena of governance structures (namely the modes of governance) requiring the need for a new governance paradigm.
Abstract: This thesis will begin with the presumption that the classical integration theories such as dual intergovernmental/supranational paradigms have lost their strength as they fail to understand the EU in its own right, and do not possess the ability to explain the phenomena of governance structures (namely the modes of governance) requiring the need for a new governance paradigm. Instead of utilising the European Parliament the turn to governance was accredited by the White Paper on Governance. The Paper advocated for the adoption of the principles of openness, accountability and participation, for civil actors to become directly involved in the decision-making process. However methods such as the OMC have threatened the overall level of general political input and democratic oversight into its procedures. Therefore this thesis will argue for the ways that procedurally new governance mechanisms could be reformed through the development of the governance paradigm in which governance structures such as comitology, agencies, networks may be utilised and through the combined interaction of soft (OMC) and hard laws (directive).The thesis will aim to propose a governance paradigm in healthcare (through agencies, networks and comitology) which could be utilised rather than the OMC. The suggestion is to employ other experimental modes of governance as the OMC healthcare did not develop extensively unlike the OMC SPSI. The reason for this was that the OMC health and long-term care was not adopted until 2004 and then more or less immediately streamlined in 2005 to the Social OMC which contained the three strands namely pensions, social inclusion and protection and healthcare. Hence the thesis will consider the three strands under the umbrella Social OMC and provide suggestions for reform. This left a gap for healthcare governance in the EU, which the thesis suggests could be filled through the governance paradigm. The thesis will suggest that as the new modes employed through the governance paradigm have their limitations, the way forward for the OMC is through combined governance. Combined governance requires a hybrid interaction between hard and soft law and further the new modes of governance can be fused together and allow hybrid interactions. This notion will be represented substantively through the Organs Directive as the collaboration of the directive and action plan presents a hybrid format (combined governance). Secondly my proposal of the ?integrated model? may be utilised when applying the Organs Directive. The integrated model presents a fusion of the three governance structures the OMC, comitology and agencies. In the case of the Organs Directive it presents a ?hybrid within a hybrid?.
25 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 1998
Abstract: Judicial review of risk regulation rule making in the United States has been a highly controversial area of administrative law How a court should substantively review expert decision makers acting under scientific uncertainty is by no means clear While there has been much criticism, few answers have been forthcoming, and the present approach taken by the courts has led to ossification of the rule making process While risk regulation may seem the product of late twentieth century America, courts in carrying out judicial review have been tackling the problems created by expertise and scientific uncertainty since at least the turn of the century The courts' approach in applying such scope of review standards as the substantial evidence and arbitrary and capricious tests has been largely determined by their understanding of what is an expert administrative agency Two models of administrative expertise can be identified - the deliberative and the rationalist The rationalist expert agency is defined as an analytical fact finder which does not stray outside precise legislative boundaries In contrast the deliberative expert agency is a complex problem solver in the public interest It engages in deliberation informed by analysis to solve problems identified by Congress Through an examination of the impact of these models on scope of review doctrine an appreciation can be gained of why judicial review is presently carried out the way it is and how it can be reformed In the early half of this century, scope of review doctrine was underpinned by the deliberative model With the creation of the risk regulatory agencies in the early 1970s there was much confusion over both the role of these new agencies and how the courts should review their decisions Due to a number of circumstances, both internal and external to risk regulation, judicial review was by 1980 underpinned by the rationalist paradigm Influential factors included: growing distrust of public administration, hard look review, debates about administrative procedure, and legislative ambiguity It is argued that the rationalist model is at odds with the task of risk regulators and what is expected of them It is the rationalist paradigm rather than judicial review per se which has led to the problems of ossification The deliberative paradigm can and should be the basis for effective judicial review and this is illustrated with a mock judgement
25 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight the normative considerations surrounding social media in a deliberative democratic process and apply this model's normative values to the use of audience response systems, demonstrating that social media has the capacity to fundamentally shift the normative dimensions of deliberative democracy by changing the process itself.
Abstract: Deliberative democracy as a form of citizen engagement and social media as a means to achieving greater citizen engagement have both received considerable attention in recent years; However, little attention has been paid to the way deliberative democracy and social media function together. The central aim of this research is to highlight the normative considerations surrounding social media in a deliberative democratic process. To do this, the article uses Iris Marion Young's model of deliberative democracy that is rooted in inclusion, political equality, reasonableness, and publicity. Applying this model's normative values to the use of audience response systems demonstrates that social media have the capacity to fundamentally shift the normative dimensions of deliberative democracy by changing the process itself. The broad philosophical and social-theoretical concerns related to the implications of social media for long-standing ontological and epistemological questions of achieving "the public good" a...
25 citations
TL;DR: This article examined how political elites mediate Europeanization through their EU decision-making and decision-taking using interviews with United Kingdom (UK) negotiators centrally involved in EU trade, agriculture, environment and foreign policy.
Abstract: Recent years have witnessed much debate on Europeanization. Scholarship from a variety of different disciplinary perspectives has been conducted on this topic using the analytical approaches of new institutionalism, including studies made of the interrelations between formal European Union (EU) institutional rules and procedures and informal norms and beliefs on individual actor behaviour. Yet using new institutionalism to examine Europeanization’s interconnections with and effects upon the EU’s distinctive model of internationalization is not without problems, as recent analyses confirm. Drawing on recent critiques of March and Olsen’s logics of appropriateness and consequentiality that together provide the foundations of the new institutionalism, this article examines how political elites mediate Europeanization through their EU decision-making and decision-taking. Using interviews with United Kingdom (UK) negotiators centrally involved in EU trade, agriculture, environment and foreign policy, their personal ‘lived’ experiences of Europeanization are gauged. This empirical analysis shows that current understandings of March and Olsen’s two logics do not adequately capture the juxtaposition of different behavioural reasoning and stances adopted by UK policy elites negotiating in the EU. In turn, the alleged transformative nature of Europeanization is questioned.
24 citations