scholarly journals Civil Society and the Theory of Democracy: a View From Intellectual Heritage of the XX-th Century

2015 ◽  
pp. 50-60
Author(s):  
V A Gutorov
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Intellectual Heritage ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
The Given ◽  
Democracy Theory ◽  
Theory Of Democracy

In the given article, the author analyses the evolution of the concepts of civil society and political activism in western political science in their interrelationship with development of liberal democracy theory. Basing on wide array of political theories the author follows the main paradigm of the discussions on democracy that is constitutive for western political science.

Case study 2

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewan Ferlie ◽  
Sue Dopson ◽  
Chris Bennett ◽  
Michael D. Fischer ◽  
Jean Ledger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Significant Potential ◽  
Key Stakeholders

This chapter analyses the role of think tanks in generating a distinctive mode of policy knowledge, pragmatically orientated to inform and shape issues of importance to civil society. Drawing on political science literature, we argue that think tanks exploit niche areas of expertise and influence to actively mobilize policy analyses and recommendations across diverse stakeholders. Through our exploratory mapping of think tanks, geographically concentrated within London, we characterize their influence as significantly boosting knowledge intensity across the regional ecosystem. In particular, we study the empirical case of one London-based think tank which powerfully mobilized policy knowledge through its formal and informal networks to build influential expert consensus amongst key stakeholders. We conclude that such organizations act as key knowledge producers and mobilizers, with significant potential to influence policy discourses and implementation.

Collaborative Governance and Civic Empowerment: A Discussion of Investing in Democracy: Engaging Citizens in Collaborative Governance

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 605-607
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Deneen
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Policy Analysts ◽  
Shed Light

Whether as a solution to problems of political legitimacy or social mistrust, as a way of involving civil society, or as a method of crafting more effective “third way” policies, collaborative governance has been a topic of renewed interest for political scientists and policy intellectuals. Carmen Sirianni's Investing in Democracy: Engaging Citizens in Collaborative Governance (Brookings, 2009) is an important new book that raises many of these issues. Perspectives on Politics is a forum for raising questions of interest to a broad range of political scientists. In this symposium, we have asked a number of prominent political scientists and policy analysts to assess the book and to address two broader questions: in what ways does the book draw from and add to political science scholarship, and in what ways does political science scholarship help to shed light on the book's core themes?

A Republic of distrust, fear and division. Rethinking contemporary Polish Experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 312-324
Author(s):  
Ryszard Piotrowski
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
European Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
European Institutions ◽  
Polish Experience ◽  
Constitutional Identity ◽  
Ways Of Life

The system of governance in contemporary Poland is founded mainly on a negative narrative of distrust. That narrative brought to power the country’s present scaremongering rulers. They continue feeding the public with frightening stories of an influx of refugees, threats of war and terrorist attacks, evils of globalisation and a loss of cultural identity to foreign ways of life. A balance between distrust of rulers and trust in them is part of democracy’s constitutional identity. Those currently in power sow distrust in liberal democracy and its values – they violate the constitution, stir up distrust of elites, and make attempts at bringing the judiciary to heelwhile staging judges bashing propaganda campaigns. Distrust of European law and European institutions is part and parcel of this process. The negative narrative weakens and threatens to disenfranchise civil society, blurring the line between law and lawlessness. It also weakens those in power.

scholarly journals School of Data and Shifting Forms of Political Subjectivity

2021 ◽  
pp. 45-67
Author(s):  
Valentin Dander ◽  
Felicitas Macgilchrist
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Political Subjectivity ◽  
Skills Acquisition ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Educational Work ◽  
Data Literacy ◽  
Political Theories

AbstractDigital media are increasingly ‘data media’ and data media are involved in various forms of political activism. This chapter reconstructs political subjectivities around figurations of the ‘digital citizen’ within the field of (open) data activism. The authors draw on interviews, document analysis and concepts from modern and post-sovereign political theories of subjectivation to explore the transformative educational work of the Datenschule (School of Data) project, focusing on the intersection between open data and anti-discriminatory activism. The chapter suggests that although School of Data explicitly positions its work as supporting ‘skills’ acquisition (data literacy), indicating a modernist understanding of subjectivity, the project also generates an understanding of political subjectivation as a multiplicity of distributed transformative processes, entangling data literacy with power structures, data-related and organisational practices.

Literature Analysis of the Theory of Liberative Democracy

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-114
Author(s):  
Hari Zamharir ◽  
Sahruddin Lubis
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Literature Analysis ◽  
Political Liberalization ◽  
Reform Era ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Democracy Theory

During the political liberalization of the reform era (1998 – present), various groups have complained about the evil practices of democratic politics. One of the shooting targets is that we have made the wrong choice, namely adopting a majoritarian or liberal democracy model. In the literature on democracy theory, one of the theories relevant to improving democratic practice is TDD (Theory of Deliberative Democracy). Although still using the principle of representation, TDD, in general, makes corrections or improvements to the procedures and substance of democracy that have been poorly practised in Indonesia today. This research is based on qualitative research using the descriptive-analytical method to provide a clear picture of the object of the problem. The conclusion of this study shows evidence that there is a model of democracy—both in substance and in procedures. They are different from the mechanism of representation initially derived from the theory of representative democracy.

Normativität und Wissenschaft in Zeiten von Populismus

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-175
Author(s):  
Isabelle-Christine Panreck
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
World War ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
The Times ◽  
Fundamental Values

The rise of populist parties throughout Europe is fostering the debate on normativism in science. Klaus von Beyme – one of Germany’s leading political scientists of the Second Generation after World War II – is an early sceptic of normative thinking in the field of political science. He campaigns for a neoinstitutionalist perspective which combines historical insights and empirical findings to describe and explain political phenomenons. Not only in the times of bloc confrontation before 1990 but also in the current debate on populism, Beyme’s hesitation against normative thinking is sharply criticised as a lack of normative comittment to the fundamental values of liberal democracy. Following the concept of Intellectual History, this paper analyses Beymes scientific writings against the backdrop of biographical and historical contextes. Further, the paper shows how methodological and epistemological assumptions can shape the production of knowledge in scientific discourses.

Conclusion: good relations, free speech and political activism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Sheldon
Keyword(s):  
Free Speech ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Transnational Politics ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
Symbolic Representations ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Ethical Relations

This chapter begins by asking how sociology can respond to the abnormal and tragic transnational politics of Palestine-Israel. I discuss how my ethnographic approach challenges the violent abstractions of dominant political theories and offers a distinctive contribution to the field of the ‘anthropology of ethics’. I then address a series of questions arising from my research into campus struggles around Palestine-Israel. First, what social conditions enable ethical modes of relationality to develop between student activists? Second, how can a sense of ethical relations as responsive to the singularity and uncertainty of ‘the other’ come into tension with the political expression of moral commitment and coherent action? And how can more complex, localised ethico-political responses be scaled up to the level of more broadly mediated communications, in which reductionist, symbolic representations flourish? Grounding my responses to these questions in an ethnographic vignette, I show how an easily overlooked interpersonal encounter carries the potential to transfigure the seemingly intractable tensions between ‘free speech’, ‘good relations’ and ‘political activism’ within universities. In this way, this book concludes with an - at once - philosophical and ethnographic response to the continued presence of the Palestine-Israel conflict within British campuses.

Indymedia in Belgium: the delicate balance between media activism and political activism

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1031-1038
Author(s):  
Robin Van Leeckwyck ◽  
Pieter Maeseele ◽  
Maud Peeters ◽  
David Domingo
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Activism ◽  
The Media ◽  
Original Website

Belgium was one of the first European countries to establish a local ‘national’ branch of the global Indymedia network. The diversity of those involved in this ‘national movement’ ultimately turned out to be both the strength of the original website and the cause of its decline. Indeed, due to political and organizational disagreement, many activists decided to create their own ‘local’ Independent Media Centre (IMC). This article distinguishes two perspectives on the role of Indymedia: the political activists saw Indymedia as a means to an end, as an instrument to discuss strategies and tactics, and to coordinate social movements and grassroots movements. The media activists, on the contrary, saw Indymedia as an end in itself, as a platform for civil society organizations to make their voices heard and facilitate democratic debate – in this vein, the experience of Indymedia.be was transformed into the alternative news site DeWereldMorgen.be.

Libraries and the Preservation of Public Intellectual Space and Heritage

2020 ◽  
pp. 218-230
Author(s):  
Anil Kumar Nauriya
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
Public Intellectuals ◽  
The Public ◽  
Intellectual Heritage ◽  
Epistemic Justice ◽  
Primary Means

There is one aspect of Libraries that needs particularly to be highlighted, namely the role of the public library as a par excellence site that upholds the public intellectual space when contrasted to the more restricted academic space. It is a primary means by which public intellectuals and, through them, civil society, may hold even academia to account when the latter becomes confined by dead habits or restricted by institutional, bureaucratic, elitist or other, structures. It needs to be emphasized that academia and scholarship are not necessarily congruent. The interplay between academia and scholarship is crucial and that is made possible by the public library. Open libraries, especially public libraries, are at least as vital as the academia. The importance of a library or a museum is not necessarily related to its location or its size. “Preservation” and “intellectual heritage” need to be decolonized in order to realize epistemic justice.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document