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 work of James Bohman can be interpreted as an attempt to synthesize the theories of Jurgen Habermas and John Rawls in a way that reconciles their divergent approaches to deliberative democracy.
Abstract: The work of James Bohman can be interpreted as an attempt to synthesize the theories of Jurgen Habermas and John Rawls in a way that reconciles their divergent approaches to deliberative democracy. His abandonment of impartiality in public discourse, his elevation of diversity to the level of a primary deliberative value and his treatment of preferences as (to some extent) cultural givens are problematic, especially from the environmentalists’ point of view. However, his efforts have highlighted several important questions that must be answered before a deliberative model of environmental decision making can emerge.
50 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an analytical-deliberative process for selecting landslide risk mitigation measures in the town of Nocera Inferiore in southern Italy. But the main point of departure in the design of this process was the explicit elicitation and structuring of multiple worldviews (or perspectives) among the participants with respect to the nature of the problem and its solution.
Abstract: With the escalating costs of landslides, the challenge for local authorities is to develop institutional arrangements for landslide risk management that are viewed as efficient, feasible and fair by those affected. For this purpose, the participation of stakeholders in the decision-making process is mandated by the European Union as a way of improving its perceived legitimacy and transparency. This paper reports on an analytical-deliberative process for selecting landslide risk mitigation measures in the town of Nocera Inferiore in southern Italy. The process was structured as a series of meetings with a group of selected residents and several parallel activities open to the public. The preparatory work included a literature/media review, semi-structured interviews carried out with key local stakeholders and a survey eliciting residents’ views on landslide risk management. The main point of departure in the design of this process was the explicit elicitation and structuring of multiple worldviews (or perspectives) among the participants with respect to the nature of the problem and its solution. Rather than eliciting preferences using decision analytical methods (e.g. utility theory or multi-criteria evaluation), this process built on a body of research—based on the theory of plural rationality—that has teased out the limited number of contending and socially constructed definitions of problem-and-solution that are able to achieve viability. This framing proved effective in structuring participants’ views and arriving at a compromise recommendation (not, as is often aimed for, a consensus) on measures for reducing landslide risk. Experts played a unique role in this process by providing a range of policy options that corresponded to the different perspectives held by the participants.
50 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors defined and discussed new social movements in terms of their actual and potential impact in the health domain, and identified a series of rhetorics associated with, and intermittently enacted through, NSMs, leading to a provisional typology of mobilizing potentials characteristic of NSMs.
Abstract: The potential of social movements to accomplish change relevant to people's health, longevity and empowerment has received little sustained attention in medical sociology outside the USA. In the current era of global or disorganized capitalism the most discussed movements in Europe have been the new social movements (NSMs). In this paper the NSMs are defined and discussed in terms of their actual and potential impact in the health domain. Within a broadly Habermasian framework, a series of rhetorics associated with, and intermittently enacted through, NSMs are identified. This leads to a provisional typology of ‘mobilizing potentials’ characteristic of NSMs. It is suggested that it is the organic bases and flexibility of health-related NSMs, together with their potential to comprise a ‘culture of challenge’ in the public sphere of the lifeworld, which makes them serious political agents for lifeworld de-colonization.
50 citations
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze educational policies in the European Union with reference to any number of dimensions, such as the interconnected processes of Europeanization and globalization, as well as the temptation to oppose nation-states to the European EU, "localism" with cosmopolitanism, etc.
Abstract: This chapter analyses educational policies in the European Union. Because the Unionization process is taking place on so many different levels – ranging from the local to the national, and the national to the global (and vice-versa) – it is possible to undertake this project with reference to any number of dimensions. This task is also complicated by the interconnected processes of Europeanization and globalization, as well as the temptation to oppose nation-states to the European Union, “localism” with “cosmopolitanism”, etc. (Bauman, 2001; Breckenridge et al., 2002). The layer which we have chosen intends to build the European Union as the main explanatory level of analysis. In fact, it is necessary to determine the nature of this unprecedented political entity, in order to apprehend its influence in the formulation of educational policies. Adopting this perspective, we hope to displace and replace ourselves in the European political debate, opening the possibility for new questions and understandings.
50 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an alternative to classical hermeneutics, which focuses on discursive products and grasps meaning as the play of difference between linguistic signs.
Abstract: This article offers an alternative to classical hermeneutics, which focuses on discursive products and grasps meaning as the play of difference between linguistic signs. Pragmatist hermeneutics reconstructs meaning through an indefinite triangulation, which brings symbols, icons, and indices to bear on each other and considers a meaningful occasion as an embodied semiotic process. To illuminate the word-body-action nexus, the discussion identifies three basic types of signifying media: (1) the symbolic-discursive, (2) the somatic-affective, and (3) the behavioral-performative, each one marked by a special relationship between signs and their objects. An argument is made that the tension between various type-signifying media is unavoidable, that the pragmatic-discursive misalignment is an ontological condition, and that bridging the gap between our discursive, affective, and behavioral outputs is at the heart of ethical life.
49 citations