Showing papers on "Elitism published in 2006"

Fall of the ‘Platonic Guardians’Liberalism, Criminology and Political Responses to Crime in England and Wales

Abstract: This paper offers a critical reconstruction and reinterpretation of the disposition towards the governance of crime that was ascendant in England and Wales during the middle decades of the twentieth century - namely, liberal elitism, or what I term Platonic guardianship. Drawing upon documentary sources, and extended oral history/biographical interviews with retired Home Office officials, penal reformers and criminologists, I examine the express and implied values and beliefs that constitute this take on political responsibility towards crime and the public passions it arouses, and consider the senses in which it may be plausibly described, ideologically, as liberal. I then explore three moments of contention during which the legitimacy of liberal elitism was called into question over the last several decades - the nothing works assault on rehabilitation in the 1970s, the rise of law and order politics in the 1980s, and the populist and punitive turn taken by penal politics since 1993. In each case, I outline briefly the nature of the charges leveled at the commitments and practices of Platonic guardianship and assess - drawing upon the interview material - the perceived scale and effects of each challenge. I conclude by reflecting on the sociological preconditions and normative limitations of Platonic guardianship as a mode of rule, and on what we may draw from it today in our efforts to make sense of, and transcend, the febrile contemporary politics of crime.

How Elitism Undermines the Study of Voter Competence

Abstract: A form of elitism undermines much uniting on voter competence. The elitist move occurs when an author uses a self‐serving worldview as the basis for evaluating voters. Such elitism is apparent in widely cited measures of “political knowledge” and in common claims about what voters should know. The elitist move typically limits the credibility and practical relevance of the analysis by leading writers to draw unreliable conclusions about voter competence. I propose a more constructive way of thinking about what voters know. Its chief virtue is its consistency with basic facts about the relationship between information and choice.

Ethics, Money and Sport: This Sporting Mammon

Abstract: Written from the contrasting yet complementary perspectives of sociology and philosophy, this book explores the far-reaching ethical consequences of the runaway commodification of sport, focusing on those instances where commodification gives rise to morally undesirable consequences. The authors consider three main areas of concern for participators and observers alike: the corrosion of the core meanings and values of sport, the increasing elitism of access to sporting commodities, and the undermining of social conditions that support sporting communities. Unique in its focus on the ethical dimension of the powerful economics of today’s sport, this book will be of interest, not only to those in the fields of sports studies and ethics of sport, but also to academics, researchers and students in philosophy of morality, sociology, and the ethics of globalization as viewed through the ultimate globalized phenomenon of modern sport.

A profession on the margins: status issues in Indian nursing

Abstract: "This joint paper attempts an unusual collaborative approach that offers an understanding of the problems that registered nurses of India have faced. Through this paper, we seek to locate the problem of ‘social status’ in both historical and contemporary landscapes, representing a relatively rare attempt to bridge the gap between studies of the institutions of colonial society, and studies of the current fortunes of their post-colonial inheritors. The study of nursing provides an important opportunity to understand the complex interaction between colonial and post-colonial modernities, and some of the results of that interaction. This is an important exercise, especially because of the invisibility of nurses and nurse leaders anywhere in the discourse on/by the women’s movement. Women teachers and doctors are highly visible, and nurses, who are seen as personification of women professionals, are almost completely absent. Even accounts of women’s movements’ history which are critical of elitism elsewhere and recognise, like Forbes, that ‘our sources on women’s work in the nineteenth and even much of the twentieth century are vague and unanalytical’ (1996: 157), do not go beyond the scope of earlier writings and look only at women like Haimavati Sen, Anandibai Joshi and Muthulakshmi Reddy, , who were doctors, as representatives of women in modern professions, while pioneer nurses are lost to history."

The conception of Chinese journalists: ideological convergence and contestation

Abstract: The chief function of the modern Chinese press has been enlightenment and propaganda, not provision of information. This paper traces and compares the three prevailing models of Chinese journalism--Confucianism, Maoism, and Communist capitalism—with reference to press role, conception of journalists and audience, as well as source of media legitimacy. The Maoist model shares the Confucian emphases of elite (cadre) responsibility while fighting against elitism in the name of the "masses." The post-Mao media in what Deng Xiaoping called "socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics" are, in effect, the media in "Communist (and post-Communist) state capitalism with authoritarian characteristics." Despite their seemingly irreconcilable differences, all three models conceive of the press as an instrument of China's century-old quest for national wealth and strength. They see the press as a means, not as an end. Their implications (barriers) to Chinese democracy are discussed.

Does American Democracy Still Work

Abstract: The past few decades have brought a shift in the nature of American democracy--an alarming shift that threatens such liberal democratic values as respect for pluralism, acceptance of the separation of powers, and recognition of the rights of opposition parties In this insightful book, political scientist Alan Wolfe identifies the current political conditions that endanger the quality of our democracy He describes how politics has changed, and he calls for a democracy protection movement designed to preserve our political traditions not unlike the environmental protection movement's efforts to safeguard the natural world Voters who know little about issues, leaders who bend rules with little fear of reprisal, and political parties that are losing the ability to mobilize citizens have all contributed to a worrisome new politics of democracy, Wolfe argues He offers a brilliant analysis of how religion and morality have replaced political and economic self-interest as guiding principles, and how a dangerous populism promotes a radical form of elitism Without laying blame on one party or ideology and without claiming that matters will improve with one party or the other in office, Wolfe instead suggests that Americans need to understand the danger their own indifference poses and take political matters more seriously

The Triptych of Realism, Elitism, and Conservatism

Abstract: This essay examines the interconnectedness among realism, elitism, and conservatism, claiming that realism cannot be understood in isolation from conservative skepticism regarding human nature and the possibility of change. Just as conservatism constitutes the foundation of realism, so it also constitutes the foundation of elitist and structural theories of democracy, thereby establishing an inherent interconnection among the three. Such interconnectedness lies at the root of the antagonism that realists display toward policies that aim to promote democracy. Contrary to the common wisdom among international relations scholars, it also implies a strong link between international relations and political science. Moreover, this interconnectedness discredits the positivist philosophy of the social sciences, calling instead for a normative philosophy of the social sciences.

Politics of environmental law: Political ideology, elitism or urban-rural interests?

Abstract: This paper examines a number of demographic aspects in congressional districts and states that played important roles in a series of Congressional votes on environmental issues in 2000. These characteristics include urbanization or population density, education, income, race, and employment. Our findings are mixed. While we find some evidence (at least in Senate votes) that population density is a positive predictor of “pro-environment” votes, we also find that things commensurate with the Environmental Kuznets Curve such as income, education, and lifestyle also play an important role in environmental voting.

Esotericism Ancient and Modern: Strauss Contra Straussianism on the Art of Political-Philosophical Writing

Abstract: Leo Strauss presents at least two distinct accounts of the idea that the authors in the political-philosophical canon have often masked their true teachings. A weaker account of esotericism, dependent on the contingent fact of persecution, is attributed to the moderns, while a stronger account, stemming from a necessary conflict between philosophy and society, is attributed to the ancients. Although most interpreters agree that Strauss here sides with the ancients, this view fails to consider the possibility that Strauss's writings on esotericism may themselves be composed esoterically. A reevaluation of Straussian hermeneutics in light of this possibility suggests that the elitism and secrecy often associated with “Straussianism” may stem, not from Strauss's true account of esotericism, but instead from an exoteric doctrine designed to seduce students into a life of philosophy.

Entrenched elitism in trade unions in Poland and Romania: an explanation for the lack of union strength and success?

Abstract: this respect, remains entrenched in trade union structures during internal decision-making. The author’s argument is twofold: both the ability of trade union leaders to develop links with the rank-and-file and reduce hierarchy during internal decision-making influence the strength of organizations. Both factors help carry the spontaneous and local demands of union members onto the national agenda. This article assigns a crucial role to unions and interest groups in providing a system of interest representation sensitive to interests that might go unacknowledged in a system whose only devices of representation were political parties and representatives with territorial constituencies. However, this article does not idealize groups but rather questions their ability to represent the interests of their members. The author tests the plausibility of these hypotheses with data from interviews with trade union confederation and federation representatives from Romania and Poland. This article concludes that organizational democracy positively affects union success.

Mathematical Literacy : a new literacy or a new mathematics?

Abstract: Mathematical Literacy is a ‘hot’ topic at present in most countries, whether it is referred to by that name, or in some cases as Numeracy, or Quantitative Literacy, or Matheracy, or as some part of Ethnomathematics, or related to Mathematics in Society. Questions continue to be asked about what is meant by mathematics in any concept of Mathematical Literacy and the use of the very word ‘Literacy’ in its association with Mathematics has been challenged. Its importance, however, lies in changing our perspective on mathematics teaching, away from the elitism so often associated with much mathematics education, and towards a more equitable, accessible and genuinely educational ideal.

Street Strollers: Grounding the Theory of Black Women Intellectuals

Abstract: The year 2003 marked the 100th anniversary of W.E.B. DuBois's, The Souls of Black Folks. Throughout the country, academicians organized conferences and meetings celebrating this influential text as well as DuBois's other works, which include an additional 20 books, 15 edited volumes, and more than 100 essays, pamphlets, and articles. Clearly, DuBois lived the life of a highly productive academic scholar. He was a visible and vocal public intellectual, although he described himself as shy and reserved and unapologetically explained that he sometimes withdrew "ostentatiously from the personal nexus." (2) During the 1920s, DuBois seldom spoke to his New York neighbors, even as he "essayed a new role of interpreting to the world the hindrances and aspirations of American Negroes" as the editor and publisher of the NAACP's magazine, The Crisis. (3) Admitting that his "leadership was a leadership solely of ideas," DuBois was a gifted thinker and writer; however, his elitism strained his relationship with the Black masses. (4) Perhaps it was this kind of distance from others that Cornel West was referring to when he said, "The choice of becoming a black intellectual is an act of self-imposed marginality; it assures a peripheral status in and to the black community." (5) Fortunately, marginality was not then (nor is it today) the fate for all thinkers of African descent. In fact, it is through an exploration of intellectuals who fall within the category of street scholar that we can fully see the power of ideas when they are emancipated from their too frequent dependence on linguistic jargon, empty rhetoric, and impenetrable ideological constructs. (6) How does one become a street scholar? Or how is the making of a street scholar different from that of a professional black intellectual? The locus of the academy, is pivotal to the difference. While academic scholars use a variety of research methods to substantiate or elucidate their ideas, street scholars, are as likely to ground their ideas in the personal, antidotal, and subjective modes. Too often categorized as individuals who lack critical-thinking skills, street scholars are dismissed as offering simple solutions to complex problems. There tends to be a strong bias against them, which is ironic, considering how frequently academicians repackage street scholars' thoughts, using inaccessible language and drawing from French theorists, Western philosophers, and sometimes simply any writer who is strategically positioned within the academy. Why do academic scholars so often feel the need to reframe the commentary of street scholars, dressing it up in abstract language and laying claim to it as their own? Barbara Christian in her seminal essay "The Race for Theory," explains that "theory has become a commodity which helps determine whether we are hired or promoted in academic institutions-worse, whether we are heard at all." (7) Unfortunately, the trend to exalt theory as the hallmark of brilliance undermines other, more narrative forms (stories, poems, songs, personal testimony, even the Socratic method of questioning) that are central to street scholars. Yet as intellectuals committed to political change, we neglect these other forms at our peril. While we can see in the academy ample evidence substantiating Christian's fear "that when theory is not rooted in practice, it becomes prescriptive, exclusive, elitish," in the work of street scholars we can witness the dynamic fusion of theory meeting practice. (8) Street scholars are driven by more than intellectual curiosity or the need to publish for fear of perishing professionally. They talk and write about what they themselves are doing socially and politically, whereas the majority of academic scholars talk about and critique what others are doing or have done. The life of the street is the primary text for street scholars. They are involved with the reports and experiences of living people, while many academic theorists are more involved with the ideas themselves. …

A Critical Politics of Knowledge: Analyzing the Role of Educational Psychology in Educational Policy

Abstract: This article examines the ideological dimensions of educational psychology and psychometrics as they relate to the validation of the 'intelligence' of the privileged and the 'deficiency' of the marginalized. In this critique a critical psychology emerges that takes seriously the lifeworld experiences of culturally and politically oppressed groups. This critical intervention in psychology forces the field to confront its class elitism, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy, as well as the epistemological foundations on which it is constructed. Here the abstracted study of individual minds is rejected for a more contextualized view. Mind in the critical view is more a distributed concept than an autonomous, isolated one bounded by the border of the brain. In this context the ideological dimensions of psychology can be challenged. The discipline of educational policy in North America in the twenty-first century is typically viewed in isolation from discourses in the cognitive domain. This is unfortunate, as policy scholars and, of course, policy makers have much to learn from acquainting themselves with issues of cognitive theory and how they implicitly shape the construction and implementation of educational policies. This article examines the present ideological context in which educational policy is produced and implemented, in the process analyzing the ways in which unexamined cognitive theoretical assumptions shape and extend dominant ideological and paradigmatic impulses in educational policy. In a critical theoretical context it then provides insight into the importance of progressive cognitive theory in informing critical educational policies. All of this illustrates the importance of a critical politics of knowledge that draws upon an understanding of the ways tacit epistemological assumptions are deployed for hegemonic purposes in the educational arena.

A human(e) 'uni-versity': resisting scientism, technicism, and economism

Abstract: This article focuses on the issue of dehumanising knowledgegenerating procedures in the contemporary university. For this purpose different practical examples are analysed. It is argued that these dehumanising practices are rooted in present-day techno-scientistic elitism that has gone beyond the distinction between good and evil, and has developed into capitalistic pragmatism. Furthermore it is argued that these practices suppress critical reflection and creative alternatives in favour of gainful advantage within paradigmatic limitations. Real postmodern relativism thus does not exist; it is rather the absolutism of the economy and the market that determine the nature of knowledge-building processes.

A Black Feminist Analysis of Responses to War, Racism, and Repression

Abstract: In March 2003, the US government launched a military invasion and occupation of Iraq. This was one more phase of the US National Security Strategy doctrine that promises militarism, war, and disruption in various sovereign states. These wars abroad and the unprecedented powers of government and police agencies in the USA represent powerful intersections of patriarchal authority, racism, militarism, and elitism. Africana communities have a long history of resisting repression both directly and indirectly related to US foreign policy. Social scientists writing from a black feminist perspective have described how such mutually constructing forces of race, class, gender, and nation have influenced the lives of people of color, women, and the poor in American society and have highlighted the historical and sociological importance of resistance by these oppressed groups. Specifically, this paper addresses ways in which a black feminist analysis and praxis offer useful perspectives on activism concerning issues ...

Inequity in equity: tackling the excellence–equality conundrum

Abstract: This chapter considers the age-old conundrum of how we should best allocate resources in education to ensure both excellence and equity. Here, the complexity is increased by considering how we should ensure that highly able children are fully included in schools and provided with challenge appropriate to their abilities. There is an undeniable tension in striving for both equality and excellence in education. When it comes to the limited pot of education budgets and resources, who has priority? Those advocating for more able pupils are often met with criticism and sometimes even disapproval, accused of elitism and inegalitarianism. We cannot afford to ignore the comments and views of our detractors, and need to construct coherent, well-supported arguments against their charges. This chapter tackles this contentious issue head on, exploring the issues raised by inclusion of the able, and reviewing and refreshing some of the more common arguments used in discussing provision.

American students organize : founding the National Student Association after World War II : an anthology and sourcebook

Abstract: The founding of the U.S. National Student Association (NSA) in September of 1947 was shaped by the immediate concerns and worldview of the GI Bill Generation of American Students, returning from a world at war to build a world at peace. The more than 90 living authors of this book, all of whom are of that generation, tell about NSA's formation and first five years. The book also provides a prologue reaching back into the 1930s and an epilogue going forward to the sixties and beyond. After World War II, thanks to the help of the GI Bill, millions of returning veterans more than doubled enrollment in the nation's 1700 colleges and universities. Thousands of young American students joined international clubs on campus, and many traveled abroad to help in post-war reconstruction, and learn about people in other countries. The student leaders who emerged during this period were intent upon dismantling the old ways of paternalism, elitism, discrimination, and segregation. Believing strongly in the nation's founding principles of liberty and justice for all, they brought this vision into their religious, social, and political organizations-and into the halls of student government. "American Students Organize" puts a human face on that pivotal time in American higher education-the time of the Cold War and the Red Scare, of the desegregation of the campus and of social organizations, and, especially, of creative engagement by students in civic and world affairs. In order to tell this important story, the anthology project recruited the book's authors, who, over a period of nine years, researched over 150 college archives, and corresponded with long-lost colleagues around the country. The resulting book covers the transformation of student life, offering a unique social history in a form not to be found elsewhere.

Institutionalized elitism and danwei system: an ethnographic study of organization and management of a chinese key university

Abstract: This paper argued that institutionalized elitism and danwei system are two essential characters of organization and management of universities in China Embedded in the revolutionary tradition of the CCP ( Chinese Communist Party) and the heritage of Chinese collectivism culture, these two characters are unlikely changed thoroughly in a short period In the past decade, the institutionalized elitism still remains unchanged, but the danwei system has encountered serious challenges from the market reform in China Although danwei system has still been kept in the university examined as a case in the present study, some changes occurring in this campus has gradually exercised an influence on the nature of its system The changes and their possible significances are further discussed

O inglês, o parentesco e o elitismo na casa de Rio Branco

Abstract: The present article analyzes the symbolic forms incorporated by the collective of Brazilian diplomats, especially regarding the notion of House. The main argument is that the metaphor implicit in the designation of the House of Rio Branco alludes to references linked to notions of kinship and heredity. On the one hand, these metaphors have strong symbolic efficacy with regard to the maintenance of an esprit de corps and a shared ethos in the midst of the growing heterogeneity in the origin of new diplomats. Nevertheless, these symbolic resources also contribute to the continuity of accusations and defenses against claims of elitism, with allusions to supposed favoring of relatives of diplomats in entering the career. This issue is evidenced throughout the discussion in the national press regarding the fact that the English language exam no longer eliminates candidates from the process of admission to the diplomatic career, in 2005

Radical Academicism, or the Sociologist's Monologue : Who are Radical Sociologists Talking with ?

Abstract: Since the early 1990s, a very successful approach has developed in sociology in France called “radical academicism”. It involves the sociologist identifying himself or herself with an “objectivity” external to society (and incarnated by the institution), and it leads to a kind of elitism: only an elite made up of “savants” can accede to the lucidity offered by theory and universal values; only its members escape social determinism and can perceive such determinism at work in the lives of others. This elite, then, ends up speaking a monologue and establishing its “self” as the point of intersection between science and the political, meaning–so goes the argument– that it is in a position to “show” the dominated the real meaning of their actions. In addition to the advantages it offers, this position resonates with the social experience of “intellos precaires” [persons working in the intellectual professions in France whose socio-economic situation remains unsure, “precarious”; e.g., adjuncts], who can therefore consider their own “misere” comparable to the “suffering” of the most underprivileged members of society, thereby universalizing their own interests. Radical academicism goes together with sharp hostility to democracy, and its mixture of self-pity and critical distance may also be said to characterize middle-class ideology. At the political level, radical academicism exemplifies middle-class appropriation of what was once the world of working-class demands, and middle-class power to weaken working-class defenses.

Gender and the State: Theories and Debates

Abstract: As an undergraduate at the University of Birmingham I studied state theory: pluralism, elitism and Marxism. We learnt that pluralism was ‘deeply problematic’ (Marsh 2002) because it simplistically claimed that the state was a neutral arbiter of different interests. Elitism focused on the ways in which the state was dominated by different elites, but problematically the theory did not always condemn this domination. We spent a lot of time on different Marxist positions, which ranged from seeing the state as the instrument of the ruling class to exploring its political autonomy.

How Can We Democratize Higher Education If We Don't Count the Votes? A Master of Public Administration Case Study

Abstract: The American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration, as well as several leading authors in our field, have expressed support for a range of ethical principles, including representativeness, diversity, affirmative action, equality, fairness, and justice. Various social equity reformers have argued that universities should expand their integrative efforts to include more students of poverty and working class origins. The present study surveyed the nation’s 50 top-rated MPA schools asking them whether they collect data about their students’ socioeconomic backgrounds. While other academic disciplines have initiated social class-based affirmative action plans for enrolling students, none of the 43 survey respondents said they do so. The discussion closes by suggesting that with the present study’s evidence and justification in place, academic public administration, driven by its commitment to the discipline’s acknowledged ideals, has sound rationale for establishing socioeconomic affirmative action plans for student diversity purposes.

'Go to the forest and move': 1960s American rock music as electronic pastoral

Abstract: power’ was a Romantic desire to return to what was perceived as a simpler, more natural form of social life, based on the communal patterns of pre-modern, tribal societies The rock music associated with the hippy counterculture was integral to this newly emerging subculture of radical environme ntalism Indeed, several of the leading figures in the sixties rock scene went on to become environmental activists in the decades that followed Joe McDonal d became involved in animal rights and whale conservation; after two decades of environmental activism in his own locality, Ed Sanders of the Fugs founded the Woodstock Journal in 1995 with his wife, the writer and painter Miriam R Sanders; Stewart Brand, former member of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters, founded the Whole Earth Catalog in the fall of 1968, and in 1996 became a founder member of the Long Now Foundation, an organisation dedicated to promoting long-term thinking about the future of global ecosystems 3 Yet the nascent environmentalist critique produced by the rock counterculture was limited and contradictory, in that rock music also stood for hedonism, individualism, egocentricity, escapism and consumerist fashion: values largely antithetical to radical forms of environmentalism Moreover, rock culture’s adherence to a pastoral ideal of nature mystified q uestions of technology and economics, while its commitment to idealist notions of social change, particularly shaped by a naive faith in the transformative power s of both rock music and LSD, prevented the emergence of a more trenchant, materi alist understanding of American society In addition, the counterculture’s inherent elitism, evident in its emphasis on young people as the new agents of revolutionary change, and its consequent polarisation of society into the ‘hip’ a nd the ‘square,’ tended to allow its members to ignore their own complicity in consu mer society, and took the place of a more potentially radical questioning of class and racial division in the United States It also meant that youth culture cou ld be easily assimilated into the conservative discourses of advertising, and the mas s media in general 4 Consequently, in the 1960s, as Eric Mottram put it, the “energy of the searching young in America remained depoliticized and exploited” 5

An Interview with Touré

Abstract: TOURE: I think I do. I think those of us who go back to the 1980s with this culture, definitely have a shred of elitism. There was a time when it seemed that most rappers-excuse me, most MCs-were great, or at least, innovative, but now there are people who seem just strictly commercial. So, yes, I make a distinction between the MC who's just a serious artist who has flow and diction and innovates and creates and has intricate things going on in his work, versus a rapper who is stringing rhymed words together in a fun way. The rapper is not advancing hip-hop culture or the science of hip-hop music. The MC is.

Critical discourse analysis on the translation practice of the Singapore's 2004 educational reforms

Abstract: In Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s 2004 National Day Rally speech, he stressed the need for Singapore to undergo a reformation process in order to secure a promising economic future for the country. For him, Singapore’s education policies provide the opportunity to develop this future by adopting a fresh approach to teaching and learning in 2004 and beyond. The context of these educational reforms is represented by a commitment to build on the past governmental policies, such as the Thinking School, Learning Nation reform in 1997, and Information technology (IT) Masterplan in 1997 to strengthen the life sciences, the research and development (RD and explores the intended and possible hidden effects of them on teachers and students at three levels. First, it looks at the promulgation of reforms made at the political level through an analysis of the discourse found in the government dominated media, that is, how The Straits Times framed and supported the reforms. Second, it analyses the translation of the political discourse through an analysis of theMOE policy document and science syllabus curriculum to explore how the MOE has incorporated the concepts underlying these new reforms into the education system. Finally, it examines a school’s science schemes of work to investigate the extent to which the policy reforms have been translated for implementation at the classroom level. Insights on how this translation practice works draw on postcolonial theory, policy theory, curriculum theory and critical discourse analysis. Despite the intent of the 2004 educational reforms to give education a broader focus, this study found that the current Singaporean educational system continues to be very oriented towards academic performance. The study showed that students who have excelled in their studies tend to benefit more from the new policy changes because schools play a crucial role in producing and affirming the IT, life sciences and biomedical research knowledge targeted by the reforms. As students from the elite schools are usually given more opportunities to learn this type of high status knowledge, inevitably they tend to benefit more from these educational changes. In view of this, the concept of diversity and flexibility appeared to apply more to academically-abled students, further sustaining the elitism found in Singapore. This study also concluded that despite the government’s support for putting in place an education system that promotes the concept of Teach Less, Learn More, this concept has not been effectively translated to the school level. In the case study school, the reform was implemented through the concept of Learn More, Teach More.

School of Public Policy, University of Maryland PUAF 698Q: Selected Topics in Public Affairs Democracy and Democratization: Theory and Practice Fall 2006

Abstract: 1. Aims of the Course: This course will focus on the theory and practice of democracy and democratization as well as related themes of civil society and civic engagement. In Part I, we will consider various theories that seek to understand and defend democratic governance. What is nature of democracy in contrast to other forms of government such as bureaucratic elitism, theocracy, and authoritarianism and can democracy be defended against these other governmental arrangements? What are the strengths and weaknesses of various forms of democratic theory, for example, minimalist democracy (Schumpeter), liberalrepresentative democracy (Dahl-polyarchy), and deliberative democracy? What does each theory consider to be the causes, consequences, limits, and threats to democracy?