Showing papers on "Democracy published in 1985"

Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics

Abstract: This book traces the genealogy of the present crisis in left-wing thought, from stifling of democracy under Marxist-Lenninism and Stalinism to the contemporary emergence of new forms of struggle; and reexamines the idea of hegemony, from the formation of the idea in the writings of Lenin and Gramsci, to the expanded and discursive ideas of Foucault to posit a claim for the new possibilities of a radical democracy. This is a text for both the understanding of hegemony and for focusing on present social struggles and their significance for democratic theory.

Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life

Abstract: Meanwhile, the authors' antidote to the American sicknessa quest for democratic community that draws on our diverse civic and religious traditionshas contributed to a vigorous scholarly and popular debate. Attention has been focused on forms of social organization, be it civil society, democratic communitarianism, or associative democracy, that can humanize the market and the administrative state. In their new Introduction the authors relate the argument of their book both to the current realities of American society and to the growing debate about the country's future. With this new edition one of the most influential books of recent times takes on a new immediacy."

Political democracy and the size distribution of income

Abstract: This paper reviews the major theoretical arguments that link political democracy with economic inequality. It then shows that previous empirical analyses of the linkage have produced inconclusive results because they have suffered from specification, measurement, and sample-composition problems. A nonrecursive model is proposed that overcomes many of these limitations. Using 2SLS and a new weighted 2SLS procedure, we find no evidence of direct effects of political democracy on income inequality, or vice versa. However, economic development influences both variables, while world-system position, Protestantism, and British colonial experience affects political democracy. Population age-structure and systematic measurement error induce changes in income inequality. The paper concludes with a discussion both of the flaws in prior arguments linking democracy with inequality, and of the political processes that undermine any such linkage. In democracies the poor have more sovereign power than the men of property; for they are more numerous and the decisions of the majority prevail. Aristotle, The Politics, 1962:237 Where one set of people possesses a great deal and the other nothing, the result is either extreme democracy [mob rule] or unmixed oligarchy or a tyranny due to the excesses of the other two. Aristotle, The Politics, 1962:173 Debate over the linkage between political democracy and social equality has a venerable history. At least since Aristotle, many have held that by reducing inequalities in the distribution of political power, democracy helps to reduce inequalities of wealth and status. Paralleling this view, it also has been argued that extreme inequalities in wealth undermine democratic political structures. At the same time, it has been suggested that democracy and inequality have no meaningful bearing on each other. This paper offers a fresh approach to the democracy-inequality linkage. We begin with a survey of the pertinent substantive arguments and the assumptions on which they are based. This is followed by a review of representative empirical studies which shows that those studies have generated inconclusive results. Further, there is no readily apparent way to resolve these differences, because, as we indicate below, the empirical studies have employed a variety of samples, measurement procedures, and model specifications. Finally, we report our own empirical analysis, which seeks to correct some of the major specification and measurement problems of previous work. This analysis is based on a more comprehensive data set than has been available in the past, and centers on 60 Western and Third World countries.

Arguments for and against planning

Abstract: Planning is increasingly under attack around the world in the political arena, the popular press, and academic literature. Responding to these critiques, this article examines four major types of argument which have been made for and against planning in a modern democratic 'free market' society economic arguments based on the advantages and deficiencies of competitive markets, pluralist arguments based on the benefits and limitations of pluralist group interactions, the traditional arguments used by the early planning profession, and recent neoMarxist' arguments for and against planning. Together these perspectives suggest that planning can be defended on theoretical grounds as performing four essential social functions: promoting the collective interests of the community; considering the external effects of individual and group action; improving the information base for public and private decision-making; and protecting the interests of society's most needy members. Ultimately, however, planning can only be judged on the practical grounds of how well it performs these functions.

Democracy at Work

Abstract: Tom Schuller takes as a starting point his belief that there should be a more equitable distribution of power between management and work-force. He reviews the variety of conceptual approaches to industrial democracy and proposes a simple framework for analysis. He concludes that democracy at work necessarily involves the articulation of collective interests, and suggests dimensions in terms of which these interests can most usefully be defined.

Disorganized Capitalism: Contemporary Transformations of Work and Politics

Abstract: Should the Western democracies, contrary to their prevailing self-image as "planned" and "managed," be seen as highly disorganized systems of social power and political authority? If so, what are the symptoms, consequences of, and possible remedies for these disorganizing tendencies?In these ten essays, Claus Offe seeks to answer such questions. Moving beyond the boundaries of both Marxism and established forms of political sociology, he focuses on the growth of serious divisions within the work force (and between the employed and unemployed), the importance of the "informal" sector, the severe difficulties faced by trade unions in coping with the present economic crisis, the vulnerability of neocorporatist mechanisms, and the failures of state policymaking based on either majority rule or bureaucratic administration.In examining these and other fundamental problems of advanced capitalist democracies, Offe also contests some widely held assumptions of contemporary social science. He calls into question the neutrality of liberal democratic mechanisms of participation and representation, the centrality of the category of work and the division between labor and capital, and the feasibility and desirability of full employment.Claus Offe is the author of numerous books and essays, including Contradictions of the Welfare State (MIT Press paperback). He is currently Professor of Political Science and Sociology in the Faculty of Sociology, University of Bielefeld, West Germany. John Keane is Senior Lecturer in Political Theory and Sociology at the Polytechnic of Central London. Disorganized Capitalism is included in the series, Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy.

The Public Service and the Patriotism of Benevolence

Abstract: The most destructive effect of "privatization" has been the devaluation of public service to just another arena in which one can achieve essentially private ambitions. "Careerism" has been substituted for idealism. Careerism, rooted in an egoistic, utilitarian philosophy, is considered to be the primary inducement in almost all American management theory. The ideal of American democracy assumes that a special relationship should exist between public servants and citizens. For them, the success of the governmental system was dependent upon the prior acceptance, by both the public servants and the citizens, of the truth of the regime values. Therefore, public servants must inculcate the patriotism of benevolence. Idealistic this charge may be, but we are bound, by the covenants of our inception, to both idealism and practicality. It is within the patriotism of benevolence that the ideal and the practical are fused.

The explanation of ideology: Family structures and social systems

Abstract: Democracy and anthropology the seven families community authority the two forms of individualism endogamy asymmetry anomie African systems.

Bringing the State Back In: State Power and the Strength of Civil Society in the Southern Cone of Latin America

Abstract: Society-centered views of political and economic transformation have never held the unchallenged sway in Latin America that they have in North America. The prevalence of “organic statist” models of society that assume a central and relatively autonomous role for the state has affected both policy makers and social scientists. Beginning in the late 1960s, focus on the state became particularly intense. The erosion of the intellectual credibility of the society-centered “modernization” model of political and economic development coincided with the apparent exhaustion of both industrialization based on import substitution and the associated populist and parliamentary political regimes that were associated with it. The assumptions of modernization theory that liberal democratic regimes would be inexorably produced by the process of industrialization was replaced by a new preoccupation with the ways in which the state apparatus might become a central instrument for both the repression of subordinate classes and the reorientation of the process of industrial development. This new concern is perhaps best exemplified in the seminal work of Guillermo O'Donnell on bureaucratic authoritarian (BA) regimes. A BA regime was associated with (if not necessarily responsible for) an impressive episode of industrialization (in the Brazilian case). Such regimes also proved to be extremely effective at fragmenting, atomizing, and inhibiting potential oppositional collectivities. The initial period of the BA was one in which the civil society lost its capacity to generate new political and economic initiatives while the power of the state grew. Thus, analysis of the actions and initiatives of groups operating within the state apparatus became a central focus of social science research.

Modern India: The Origins of an Asian Democracy

Abstract: The Indian subcontinent - land, people, power the consolidation of dominion - illusion and reality the dilemmas of dominion war and the search for a new order a critical decade - India - empire or nation? India in the 1940s - a great divide? India's democratic experience.

Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age.

Abstract: Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition Acknowledgments Preface to the 1990 Edition Preface to the 1984 Edition Part I. Thin Democracy: The Argument Against Liberalism 1. Thin Democracy: Politics as Zookeeping 2. The Preconceptual Frame: Newtonian Politics 3. The Epistemological Frame: Cartesian Politics 4. The Psychological Frame: Apolitical Man 5. Thin Democracy in the Twentieth Century: The Potential for Pathology Part II. Strong Democracy: The Argument for Citizenship 6. Strong Democracy: Politics as a Way of Living 7. A Conceptual Frame: Politics in the Participatory Mode 8. Citizenship and Participation: Politics as Epistemology 9. Citizenship and Community: Politics as Social Being 10. The Real Present: Institutionalizing Strong Democracy in the Modern World Index

Media and Cultural Studies

Abstract: Today it is not surprising that there should be degree and other courses in media, film, television and cultural studies. Yet behind these developments lies an ongoing history of conflicts over what can legitimately be called ‘culture’. The setting up within the educational system of courses on media and cultural studies marks the recognition that it is not just Fine Art or Literature that constitute the ‘cultural’ in society. Left-wing intellectuals and Marxist ideas have played an important role in achieving this change in attitude. The contributions coming from these have not only entailed a positive assessment of the possibilities of the television age, but have also developed a radical politics. The campaign to broaden definitions of culture to include ‘ways of life’ has often been linked to struggles for a more democratic and egalitarian society. From this point of view, the problem has not been to make Culture more accessible to the people (in the manner of Mathew Arnold or Lord Reith), but to redefine ‘culture’ in order to valorise and explain areas of experience and meaning previously discounted within educational, broadcasting and other institutions (Williams, 1971, pp. 9–15; Mulhern, 1980). As will be shown, this led to important debates on the meaning of the term ‘popular culture’.

Soeharto's Indonesia: Personal Rule and Political Institutions

Abstract: S TRONG POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS have not been a hallmark of Third World governments. With few exceptions, colonialism in Asia and Africa left a legacy of only rudimentary governmental institutions and even less-formed political party and interest group organizations. In these structureless environments, personal rule has been the almost inevitable alternative. Strong individuals, typically supported by armies, installed themselves in presidential palaces (formerly the residences of governors-general, also originally installed by armies) and swept away the flimsy and hastily-erected democratic scaffolding of late colonialism. In his still-influential Political Order in Changing Societies,' Samuel Huntington explained the widespread collapse of democratic regimes as the natural outcome of a situation in which the mobilization into politics of large numbers of detraditionalized people placed too heavy a load of demands on fledgling governments. Praetorianism, the direct control of government by social forces unmediated by political institutions, was Huntington's label for the personal or military regimes that replaced Western-derived democracies. Civic polities, in which autonomous political institutions-that is, one or more strong political partiespredominate over social forces, could ultimately be established following one of two routes: a "within-system" coalition of urban elites with the conservatively-led rural poor, which would enable the former to impose order on conflicts among urban lowerand middle-class groups; or the seizure of central power by a revolutionary opposition supported by radicalized peasants. The second alternative is clearly the Communist model. The first-paradoxically, Huntington says-is initially highly traditionalizing, because it is based on a conservative rural following. But the stability of an urban-rural conservative coalition buys time for a more thoroughgoing modernization to take place. The gradual growth of the party system keeps pace with the emergence of newly-mobilized social forces, and the end result is a developed civic polity.

Civil Desobedience: Litmus Test for the Democratic Constitutional State

Abstract: In the introductory essay to the volume Theory and Practice (Boston, 1973), Habermas describes his intellectual project as an attempt to "develop the idea of a theory of society conceived with practical intention." He proceeds in this brief survey of his work to delineate the differences between technical questions, which admit primarily of instrumental calculation, and practical questions, which "are posed with a view to the acceptance or rejection of norms, especially norms for action, the claims to validity of which we can support or oppose with reasons" (pp. 1, 3). The following article is an excellent example of the sort of practical political discourse which Habermas has helped to stimulate in the realm of theory. The concerns and methods of critical theory are apparent in the attempt to justify civil disobedience by an analysis of the philosophical underpinnings of the modern state. Because that institution is a human creation par excellence, the historical nature of its norms must not be forgotten. By making the moral foundations of constitutionalism accessible, Habermas seeks to give practical substance to the debates over the nature of law in contemporary West Germany.

The Changing Constitution

Abstract: PART 1 THE CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 1. The rule of law and its underlying values 2. The sovreignty of parliament - form or substance? 3. Human rights and the British constitution 4. Britain in the European Union 5. The internationalization of public law and its impact on the United Kingdom 6. Models of democracy: from representation to participation? PART II THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT 7. The 'modernization' of the United Kingdom parliament? 8. The executive: towards accountable government and effective governance? 9. Scottish devolution: developing practice in multi-layer governance 10. Northern Ireland and British constitution since the Belfast Agreement 11. Devolution and the changing constitution: evolution in Wales and the unanswered English question 12. The new local government PART III THE REGULATION OF POWER 13. Courts, tribunals, ombudsmen, ADR: administrative justice, constitutionalism and informality 14. Regulations, markets and legitimacy 15. The control of public expenditure 16. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 - a sheep in wolf's clothing? 17. Standards of conduct in public life

Democracy and education 1916

Abstract: John Dewey s best-known and still-popular classic, "Democracy and Education, "is presented here as a new edition in Volume 9 of the Middle Works. Sidney Hook, who wrote the introduction to this volume, describes "Democracy and Education: " It illuminates directly or indirectly all the basic issues that are central today to the concerns of intelligent educators. . . . It throws light on several obscure corners in Dewey s general philosophy in a vigorous, simple prose style often absent in his more technical writings. And it is the only work in any field originally published as a textbook that has not merely acquired the status of a classic, but has become the one book that no student concerned with the philosophy of education today should leave unread. Dewey said in 1930 that "Democracy and Education, " was for many years the one [book] in which my philosophy . . . was most fully expounded. "

Is Democracy Possible? The alternative to electoral politics

Abstract: In this provocative book, John Burnheim argues that there is an alternative to our current political and economic structure. In a bold and original discussion of how and why the present system fails and what we might do to bring about genuine democracy, Burnheim offers the outline of a new kind of society, forcing us to reexamine our assumptions about the limits and possibilities of modern political systems.

Non-Majoritarian Democracy: A Comparison of Federal and Consociational Theories

Abstract: In an earlier attempt to compare federalism and consociationalism, Ifound that, both conceptually and empirically, they do not coincide but that they do overlap to a significant extent. In this second comparison, my point of departure is that both concepts entail a rejection of majoritarian democracy. Eight characteristics of non-majoritarian democracy-or consensus democracy-can be identified: (1) executive power sharing, (2) balanced executive-legislative relations, (3) strong bicameralism, (4) multiparty system, (5) multi-dimensional party system, (6) proportional representation, (7) federalism and decentralization, and (8) a written constitution and minority veto. Consociational theorists tend to emphasize the non-majoritarian attributes of power sharing, proportional representation, and multi-partyism, whereas federal theorists stress the non-majoritarian characteristics of strong bicameralism and rigid constitutions, in addition to federalism itself. A similar pattern is revealed by afactor analysis of these variables in twenty-two democratic regimes. Although consociationalism and federalism are nonmajoritarian in nature, they represent clearly different dimensions of non-majoritarianism.

The Press and the Decline of Democracy: The Democratic Socialist Response in Public Policy

Abstract: The author discusses the role of economic concentration in limiting public access to information and reducing opportunities for public discourse. Picard examines the government policies that have contributed to the erosion of democratic participation and have permitted the growth of large commercial press entities, unobstructed by anti-trust provisions. He relates recent public policy responses to this problem to democratic socialist ideology and develops a social-democratic theory of the press which draws upon ideas and policies found throughout the Western world. Picard provides a democratic framework for understanding the changing nature of media economics and state-press relations and offers proposals for achieving both a democratically functioning press and broader popular participation.

Social Democracy as a Historical Phenomenon

Abstract: Not to repeat past mistakes: the sudden resurgence of a sympathetic interest in Social Democracy is a response to the urgent need to draw lessons from the history of the socialist movement. After several decades of analyses worthy of an ostrich, some rudimentary facts are finally being admitted. Social Democracy has been the prevalent manner of organization of workers under capitalism. Reformist parties have enjoyed the support of workers. Perhaps even more: for better or worse, Social Democracy is the only political force of the Left that can demonstrate an extensive record of reforms in favour of the workers. Any movement that seeks to transform historical conditions operates under these very conditions. The movement for socialism develops within capitalism and faces definite choices that arise from this very organization of society. These choices have been threefold: (1) whether to seek the advancement of socialism through the political institutions of the capitalist society or to confront the bourgeoisie directly, without any mediation; (2) whether to seek the agent of socialist transformation exclusively in the working class or to rely on multiSocial Democracy as a Historical Phenomenon

American Romanticism and the Marketplace

Abstract: "This book can take its place on the shelf beside Henry Nash Smith's "Virgin Land" and Leo Marx's "The Machine in the Garden""-Choice "[Gilmore] demonstrates the profound, sustained, "engagement" with society embodied in the works of Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau and Melville In effect, he relocates the American Renaissance where it properly belongs, at the centre of a broad social, economic, and ideological movement from the Jacksonian era to the Civil War Basically, Gilmore's argument concerns the writers' participation in what Thoreau called 'the curse of trade' He details their mixed resistance to and complicity in the burgeoning literary marketplace and, by extension, the entire ' economic revolution' which between 1830 and 1860 'transformed the United States into a market society' "The result is a model of literary-historical revisionism Gilmore's opening chapters on Emerson and Thoreau show that 'transcendental' thought and language can come fully alive when understood within the material processes and ideological constraints of their time The remaining five chapters, on Hawthorne and Melville, contain some of the most penetrating recent commentaries on the aesthetic strategies of American Romantic fiction, presented within "and through" some of the most astute, thoughtful considerations I know of commodification and the 'democratic public' in mid-nineteenth-century America Practically and methodologically, "American Romanticism and the Marketplace" has a significant place in the movement towards a new American literary history It places Gilmore at the forefront of a new generation of critics who are not just reinterpreting familiar texts or discovering new texts to interpret, but reshaping our ways of thinking about literature and culture"-Sacvan Bercovitch, "Times Literary Supplement" "Gilmore writes with energy, clarity, and wit The reader is enriched by this book" William H Shurr, "American Literature"

Domestic content legislation: house voting and the economic theory of regulation

Abstract: House voting on domestic content legislation provides a rare opportunity to examine the political economy of protectionism with respect to a particular issue rather than by using the traditional interindustry approach The results indicate that a representative's vote in favor of the content legislation and the intensity of the legislator's preferences are positively related to the importance of the auto and steel industries in the representative's district, an increasing unemployment rate, campaign contributions from labor groups, affiliation with Democratic Party, and a liberal ideology Despite ideology's statistical significance, the results suggest this variable can be disregarded because neither the predictive accuracy nor the explanatory power of the model is improved by its inclusion The estimates also provide insights concerning the impact of changes in the independent variables upon voting patterns

Controlling Nuclear Weapons: Democracy Versus Guardianship

Abstract: Argues that decisions about nuclear weapons and strategy have escaped the control of the democratic process and discusses how to deal with complex issues in a democratic fashion.