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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
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

References
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TL;DR: The idea of a transnational discursive democracy grounded in the engagement of discourses in international public spheres has been criticised by as discussed by the authors, who argue that unilateral action such as that taken by the USA in Iraq and elsewhere has hurt the most visible such project, cosmopolitan democracy, by undermining its liberal multi lateralist foundations.
Abstract: If global governance is consequential, its legitimacy ought to rest on principles of democracy. However, unilateral action such as that taken by the USA in Iraq and elsewhere has hurt the most visible such project, cosmopolitan democracy, by undermining its liberal multi lateralist foundations. Other democratic projects have not been quite so badly damaged, in particular, the idea of a transnational discursive democracy grounded in the engagement of discourses in international public spheres. The discourse aspects of international affairs are important when it comes to issues of war and peace, conflict and security, no less so here than elsewhere. Democracy faces competition in the informal realm of discourses from both the "war of ideas" and "soft power" projections, but can hold up well against them, and can more easily pass the test of reflexivity. Discursive democracy can help constitute effective responses to global insecurity.

57 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A framework for decision support in participatory democracy is provided and decision support functions that could be implemented in such a framework are described.
Abstract: In many parts of the world there is growing demand for participation in public policy decision making. This demand could be satisfied by the design and deployment of Web-based group decision support systems to aid large groups of, possibly unsophisticated, users in participating in such decisions. After describing several mechanisms for participatory democracy, we provide a framework for decision support in this area and describe decision support functions that could be implemented in such a framework. We illustrate the ideas with a specific system to support participatory budget elaboration through the Web. Several practical issues are discussed along the way.

57 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Archon Fung1
TL;DR: In the 1970s, the Scandinavian and Northern European social democracies earned the world's envy for their remarkable accomplishments in equality, solidarity, and welfare, and many social scientists sought to understand the political and economic keys to their success.
Abstract: From time to time, a region of the world captures the attention of social scientists because people there achieve some important human value to an extent greater than the rest of us have managed to do. In the 1970s, the Scandinavian and Northern European social democracies earned the world's envy for their remarkable accomplishments in equality, solidarity, and welfare. Accordingly, many social scientists sought to understand the political and economic keys to their success.

56 citations

Book
24 Sep 2008
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a survey of the works of Marx, Simmel, Weber, Lukacs, Horkheimer, Adorno, 6. Habermas, 7. Adorno and 9.
Abstract: 1. Marx, 2. Simmel, 3. Weber, 4. Lukacs, 5. Horkheimer, 6. Adorno, 7. Habermas, 8. Habermas II, 9. Habermas III

56 citations

01 Jan 2004
TL;DR: The Elusive Basis of Legitimacy in Global Governance: Three Conceptions as mentioned in this paper The authors of this paper present three distinct notions of legitimacy: principled legitimacy rooted in democratic politics, legitimacy as law or legalization, and a sociological conception of legitimacy rooted on intersubjective beliefs about appropriateness.
Abstract: The Elusive Basis of Legitimacy in Global Governance: Three Conceptions How to create and maintain legitimacy is arguably the greatest contemporary challenge to global governance and international order. To address this challenge, International Relations scholars, accustomed to a clear distinction between international and domestic legitimacy, have had to borrow extensively from the fields of political philosophy, comparative politics, law, and sociology, which have long investigated the legitimate basis of political authority. These traditions inform three distinct conceptions of legitimacy in this new wave of scholarship: 1) principled legitimacy rooted in democratic politics; 2) legitimacy as law or legalization; and 3) a sociological conception of legitimacy rooted in intersubjective beliefs about appropriateness. Each conception provides only partial insight into the core puzzle animating this literature: what does political authority beyond the state require? The answer can only be found through an examination of the relationship of power, legitimacy, and community, which together constitute political authority. This is a revised version of a paper first presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, August 29-September 1, 2001. I thank Benjamin Cashore, Catherine Connors, Erin Hannah, Louis Pauly, Grace Skogstad, Janice Stein, Alexander Wendt, and Linda White for comments and criticisms and Catherine Connors and Erin Hannah for valuable research assistance. I also gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The Elusive Basis of Legitimacy in Global Governance: Three Conceptions Steven Bernstein, University of Toronto

56 citations