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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Dissertation•
21 Aug 2018
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate how undocumented migrant women perceive and learn about their rights while being confined to the private sphere and explore the role that rights and the law play in their lives.
Abstract: The British state has introduced increasingly restrictive immigration legislation in recent years, as part of an effort to create a hostile environment for undocumented migrants. For instance, the 2014 and 2016 Immigration Acts further criminalise working without papers, renting property, and driving as an undocumented migrant, in addition to restricting access to health care. Restrictive legislation has not, however, managed to deal with irregular migration, but increases breaches of immigration law. Instead of lowering net immigration, these new restrictions simply limit access to rights, and create vulnerability among undocumented migrants, which is experienced differently by men and women. Women without official immigration status mostly work and live in the domestic sphere, which can offer protection from the state. However, undocumented migrant women often experience domestic violence and work in exploitative settings, which are difficult to challenge, due to the fear of deportation and lack of access to support networks located in the public sphere. The question arises how undocumented migrant women perceive and learn about their rights while being confined to the private sphere. As little is known about the lives of undocumented migrant women in the UK, this thesis explores the role that rights and the law play in their lives. I draw on interview data, participant observation in migrants’ rights organisations, and sample applications to regularise immigration status based on human rights law, in order to investigate how undocumented migrant women perceive and relate to the law, how it structures their everyday lives, and the mechanisms they develop for survival. I analyse how the few existing rights that undocumented migrant women can claim are stratified and thus difficult to access. To claim rights, the women need free legal representation, which they find in community migrant support organisations that play a crucial role in actualising rights.
17 citations
TL;DR: The differences between ordo-and neoliberalism are many and varied as mentioned in this paper, and they represent a single movement: a conjunction of political authoritarianism and economic liberalism in opposition to democracy and especially to democratic constituent power This dynamic becomes evident with the Eurocrisis response, but it represents the deeper logic of postwar reconstruction.
Abstract: The differences between ordo- and neoliberalism are many and varied This article suggests, however, that in directing the constitutional dynamic of European integration and postwar reconstruction, ordo- and neoliberalism represent a single movement: a conjunction of political authoritarianism and economic liberalism in opposition to democracy and especially in opposition to democratic constituent power This dynamic becomes more evident with the Euro-crisis response, but it represents the deeper logic of postwar reconstruction With a longer historical arc in view, authoritarian liberalism can be traced as a reaction to the interwar breakdown of liberal democracy, based on a narrow diagnosis of democratic collapse Postwar Europe is thus reconstituted on the basis of a substitution of economic for political freedom as a legitimating device for the new constitutional imagination
17 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest an alternative approach to ethics in social work: virtue ethics, a theory of communicative action and discourse ethics that needs to be supplemented with virtue ethics to provide an account useful to social work.
Abstract: In this paper we suggest an alternative approach to ethics in social work: virtue ethics. We argue that Habermas's theory of communicative action and discourse ethics needs to be supplemented with virtue ethics to provide an account useful to social work. In these times, sensitivity to others is needed for social work to succeed as a profession interested in combating the complacency, self-interest and lack of compassion evident in cutbacks to social welfare programmes and the resultant concerns with outcomes and efficiencies that have all but obliterated care and compassion. We see in Habermas a furthering of Aristotelian and Thomist philosophy, most importantly with respect to his focus on emancipatory knowing—the critically reflective knower who knows self as the person doing the knowing. Habermas's distinction between values (objective), ethics (social) and morals (subjective) makes the province of emancipatory knowing (his epistemological theory) consistent with his moral theory—morality is personal.
17 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the adoption of a partnership approach to urban regeneration at neighbourhood level across eight European cities and conclude that the experience of partnership at neighborhood level is largely determined by contextual factors such as local and national institutional structures, political culture and the relative power of potentially competing actors within the urban regeneration system.
Abstract: This paper sets out to critically examine the adoption of a partnership approach to urban regeneration at neighbourhood level across eight European cities. While all of the cities were committed to the idea of the socially integrated city, significant differences emerged in the conceptualisation and practice of partnership at neighbourhood level. This paper draws on case studies assembled in the course of an EU funded thematic network (ENTRUST) to illustrate, in particular, the challenges associated with (1) mobilising the private sector and (2) engaging the local population in the process. The paper concludes that the experience of partnership at neighbourhood level is largely determined by contextual factors such as local and national institutional structures, political culture and the relative power of potentially competing actors within the urban regeneration system.
17 citations
TL;DR: This categorization identifies the main dimensions of a comprehensive definition of public interest, more comprehensive than previous studies, and provides a suitable context for theorists and professionals to have a clear framework for defining the public interest.
Abstract: Public interest as the main content and purpose of planning is a fuzzy concept in planning literature. The body of literature on the public interest is so complex and diverse that makes it difficul...
17 citations