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 argued that Kantian republicanism requires not only a separation of powers but also a representative democratic legislature, and that each stage of a democratic transition can potentially be in an absolute monarch's short-run self-interest.
Abstract: Against several recent interpretations, I argue in this paper that Immanuel Kant's support for enlightened absolutism was a permanent feature of his political thought that fit comfortably within his larger philosophy, though he saw such rule as part of a transition to democratic self-government initiated by the absolute monarch himself. I support these contentions with (1) a detailed exegesis of Kant's essay “What is Enlightenment?” (2) an argument that Kantian republicanism requires not merely a separation of powers but also a representative democratic legislature, and (3) a demonstration that each stage of a democratic transition can potentially be in an absolute monarch's short-run self-interest. I conclude the paper by defending Kant's theory of democratization against charges of consequentialism and paternalism and by pointing out its similarity to other accounts of democratic transitions (for example, those of Samuel Huntington and Guillermo O'donnell), suggesting a previously unnoticed opportunity ...
24 citations
Dissertation•
29 May 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine feminist and queer actors emerging in highly mediated environments and the forms of political organisation and critical knowledge production they engage in, and argue that political realities are produced in dynamic configurations of communication media, discourses and bodies.
Abstract: This thesis examines feminist and queer actors emerging in highly mediated
environments and the forms of political organisation and critical knowledge production
they engage in. It indicates that older debates around gender and sexuality are being
reformulated in digital networks and identifies alternative understandings which are
being developed. The study foregrounds a performative conceptualisation and argues
that political realities are produced in dynamic configurations of communication
media, discourses and bodies. It suggests that network technologies constitute sources
of vulnerability and anxiety for feminists and stresses the significance of registering
how embodied subjectivities emerge from these experiences.
To achieve its aims and to map activity happening across different spaces and
scales, the project attended to context-specific processes of mediation at the
intersections of online and offline settings. It employed ethnographic methods,
internet visualisation, in-depth interviewing and textual analysis to produce the
following key outcomes: it registered changing understandings of the political in
relation to new media amongst a network of women's organisations in London; it
investigated the centrality of social media and global connections in the shaping of
local queer political communities in Brighton; it complicated ideas of control, labour
and affect to analyse emerging sexual identities in online spaces like nofauxx.com, and
offline postporn events; finally, it traced feminist actors gathering around new
reproductive technologies, at the crossing fields of grassroots activism and the
academy.
Today, women's groups and queer activists increasingly use networked
communication for mobilisation and information-sharing. In a climate of widespread
scepticism towards both representational politics and traditional media, questions
about the role of digital networks in enabling or limiting political engagement are being
raised. This thesis aims to contribute to these debates by accounting for the ways in
which feminist and queer activists in digital networks reformulate the relationship
between communication media and politics.
24 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the main problems affecting media pluralism in three Central European Member States (Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) are addressed by national regulatory regimes and whether these provide sufficient framework, subsidiary and complementary to EU rules.
Abstract: In recent years, media pluralism has become the key theme of media policy debates both at the EU and national levels. This article examines normative grounds of media pluralism and considers different approaches to the issue. It also maps out regulatory concepts and responses at the level of EU institutions and outlines the main difficulties of regulatory implications stemming from the lack of a coherent approach. Finally, this contribution briefly studies to what extent the main problems affecting media pluralism in three Central European Member States (Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) are addressed by national regulatory regimes and whether these provide sufficient framework, subsidiary and complementary to EU rules. It is argued, that media pluralism has to be evaluated in the light of strong requirements of pluralistic democracy, and not simply by reference to some fragmented criteria such as effective competition in media markets.
24 citations
01 Jan 2014
24 citations