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 aim is to draw attention to different understandings of what extending democracy through digital media means, and to provide a framework for further examination and evaluation of digital democracy rhetoric and practice.
Abstract: There is currently a diversity of understandings of digital democracy being deployed within popular commentary, research, policy making, and practical initiative. However, there is a lack of resources clearly outlining this diversity; this article undertakes such an outline. It provides a reconstruction of four digital democracy positions. These four positions are referred to here as liberal-individualist, deliberative, counter-publics, and autonomist Marxist. The delineation of each position draws from critical-interpretative research and has been developed with respect to three elements: the democratic subject assumed, the related conception of democracy promoted, and the associated democratic affordances of digital media technology. The aim is to draw attention to different understandings of what extending democracy through digital media means, and to provide a framework for further examination and evaluation of digital democracy rhetoric and practice.
315 citations
TL;DR: The authors explores the various rationalist attempts to give an explanation for the use of these two types of speech acts by negotiatiors and finds that eventually all these attempts seek resort to social explanations that deviate from the individualist ontology of rationalism.
Abstract: Recently, calls for a ‘synthesis’ between rationalist and constructivist approaches have become louder. The question how the different ontological presuppositions of the two paradigms can be reconciled has been neglected. Starting from the ubiquity of ‘arguing’ and ‘bargaining’ in international negotiations, the article explores the various rationalist attempts to give an explanation for the use of these two types of speech acts by negotiatiors. It finds that eventually all these attempts seek resort to social explanations that deviate from the individualist ontology of rationalism. Efforts to specify the conditions under which negotiators follow alternatively a logic of consequentialism and appropriateness tend in fact to privilege either one or the other. Integration appears only possible if one assumes that the change between the two types of speech acts is guided by norms and rules that are shared among negotiators. This proposition suggests that the interest-based negotiation style follows a logic of...
308 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a discourse approach to the study of legitimacy of governance beyond the democratic state, starting from the empirical question of how international organizations legitimate themselves beyond the traditional democratic state.
Abstract: This article presents a discourse approach to the study of legitimacy of governance beyond the democratic state. It starts from the empirical question of how international organizations legitimate ...
299 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: The necessary paradigm shifts toward a new politically enlarged concept of CSR in a globalized world with regulatory gaps in global regulation, an erosion of national governance, and a loss in moral and cultural homogeneity in the corporate environment are described.
Abstract: First, we will explain the concept of globalization. We will describe its conceptual variants and point to some of the phenomena that are associated with this process. Next we will describe the traditional paradigm of CSR where the responsibilities of businesses are discussed vis-a-vis a more or less properly working nation state system and a homogenous moral (cultural) community. We will argue that both these assumptions become problematic in the current 'post-national constellation' (Habermas 2001). We describe the new situation with regulatory gaps in global regulation, an erosion of national governance (loss of national sovereignty and the exterritorial application of national law), and a loss in moral and cultural homogeneity in the corporate environment. We discuss the consequences of the post-national constellation with the help of two recent observations of business firms' behavior which call for a fresh view on the concept of CSR. We describe the necessary paradigm shifts toward a new politically enlarged concept of CSR in a globalized world.
295 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the question of whether the Internet makes political debate more open to voices that are normally not heard in the political field has been investigated based on empirical evidence from a large-scale online deliberation, which analyses who participates in political debates on the Internet and whose views are represented.
Abstract: One of the core elements of the vision of ‘electronic democracy’ is the hope that the Internet permits free and equal access to political debates However, experiences with online discourse challenge this view The digital divide being one obstacle to participation, even more interesting is the fact that online communication is constrained in ways similar to the offline world This paper attempts to reassess the question of whether the Internet makes political debate more open to voices that are normally not heard in the political field Based on empirical evidence from a large-scale online deliberation, it analyses who participates in political debates on the Internet and whose views are represented The results challenge both the optimistic and the sceptical view on electronic democracy A theoretical model is developed that is able to explain the results It extends current research by including the cultural practices of technology use and the specific effects of large-scale communication in the analys
294 citations