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: To address the social, spatial and environmental problems of cities, planners often promote and engage with spatial practices that are intended to be experimental, innovative or transformative of e... as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: To address the social, spatial and environmental problems of cities, planners often promote and engage with spatial practices that are intended to be experimental, innovative or transformative of e...
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assessed the effectiveness of institutional communication amid the management of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in Italy, highlighting the dynamic and continuously changing scenario of communication strategies, also due to the spread of social media and the mutation of conventional media outlets.
22 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: The vaunting of abstract rationality above all other faculties denies the significance of sensation, emotion, instinct, intuition and all modes of consciousness that are not amenable to rationality along with the interrelations they entail and, if followed through, would rob us of the feelings (both physical and affective) that constitute our essential feedback on being in the world as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: ion of human embodiment has a number of effects that diminish our capacity for active being in the world. First, it devalues and compromises the aspect of our being active presence in the world that is the very basis on which we rekte to the socio-natural world and through which we become individuals and form collectivities. Secondly, the vaunting of abstract rationality above all other faculties denies the significance of sensation, emotion, instinct, intuition and all modes of consciousness that are not amenable to rationality along with the interrelations they entail and, if followed through, would rob us of the feelings (both physical and affective) that constitute our essential feedback on being in the world. Moreover, these are the very means by which we judge the merits and limitations of reason, and how to act when reason fails us. Thirdly, the combined effect would be to empty human life of any sense of active being, and in the process reduce reason itself to mere rationalism reflecting only a narrow 'bandwidth' of consciousness. It also produces an artificial and very limited conception of learning. Fourth, this kind of thinking sets us apart from our animal origins and evolutionary embeddedness. Finally, all this sets formidable barriers against understanding the nature of human beings as actively relational in all respects. By this I mean that what we call human nature (a term to
22 citations
TL;DR: The Internet can be used to reconfigure access to information and people in ways that can support networked individuals and enhance their relative communicative power vis-a-vis other individuals.
Abstract: The Internet can be used to reconfigure access to information and people in ways that can support networked individuals and enhance their relative communicative power vis-a-vis other individuals an...
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the implications of the ethical theory of Emmanuel Levinas for theoretical debates about legal obligation and argue that the primordial role of ethical experience in social discourse, as emphasised by Levinas, undermines theories that propose a systematic distinction between legal and moral species of obligation.
Abstract: . This paper discusses the implications of the ethical theory of Emmanuel Levinas for theoretical debates about legal obligation. I begin by examining the structure of moral reasoning in light of Levinas's account of ethics, looking particularly at the role of the “third party” (le tiers) in modifying Levinas's primary ethical structure of the “face to face” relation. I then argue that the primordial role of ethical experience in social discourse, as emphasised by Levinas, undermines theories, such as that of H. L. A. Hart, that propose a systematic distinction between legal and moral species of obligation.
22 citations