2. Episodes in the History of Alienation and Democratic Theory

2015 ◽  
pp. 53-87
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Theory ◽  
History Of

Between Specters of War and Visions of Peace

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald M. Mara
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
First Century ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Frames Of Reference ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western Democracies

This book examines how ideas of war and peace have functioned as organizing frames of reference within the history of political theory. It interprets ten widely read figures in that history within five thematically focused chapters that pair (in order) Schmitt and Derrida, Aquinas and Machiavelli, Hobbes and Kant, Hegel and Nietzsche, and Thucydides and Plato. The book’s substantive argument is that attempts to establish either war or peace as dominant intellectual perspectives obscure too much of political life. The book argues for a style of political theory committed more to questioning than to closure. It challenges two powerful currents in contemporary political philosophy: the verdict that premodern or metaphysical texts cannot speak to modern and postmodern societies, and the insistence that all forms of political theory be some form of democratic theory. What is offered instead is a nontraditional defense of the tradition and a democratic justification for moving beyond democratic theory. Though the book avoids any attempt to show the immediate relevance of these interpretations to current politics, its impetus stems very much from the current political circumstances. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century , a series of wars has eroded confidence in the progressively peaceful character of international relations; citizens of the Western democracies are being warned repeatedly about the threats posed within a dangerous world. In this turbulent context, democratic citizens must think more critically about the actions their governments undertake. The texts interpreted here are valuable resources for such critical thinking.

Two regimes of the symbolic: radical democracy between Romanticism and structuralism

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-88
Author(s):  
Warren Breckman
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Radical Democracy ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
German Romanticism ◽  
Linguistic Turn ◽  
Ernesto Laclau ◽  
Constructed Dialogue ◽  
History Of

The ‘symbolic’ has found its way into the heart of contemporary radical democratic theory. When one encounters this term in major theorists such as Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Žižek, our first impulse is to trace its genealogy to the offspring of the linguistic turn, structuralism and poststructuralism. This paper seeks to expose the deeper history of the symbolic in the legacy of Romanticism. It argues that crucial to the concept of the symbolic is a polyvalence that was first theorized in German Romanticism. The linguistic turn that so marked the twentieth century tended to suppress this polyvalence, but it has returned as a crucial dimension of contemporary radical political theory and practice. At stake is more than a recovery of historical depth. Through a constructed dialogue between Romanticism and the thought of both Žižek and Laclau, the paper seeks to provide a sharper appreciation of the resources of the concept of the symbolic.

Between Means and Ends: Reconstructing Coercion in Dewey's Democratic Theory

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 522-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALEXANDER LIVINGSTON
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
Labor Politics ◽  
Means And Ends ◽  
History Of ◽  
Critique Of Violence ◽  
American Labor

John Dewey's democratic theory is celebrated as a classic statement of the theory of deliberative democracy. This article challenges deliberative appropriations of Dewey's political thought by situating his democratic theory within the contentious history of American labor politics. In his writings on direct action, strikes, and class struggle, Dewey advocated coercive and nondeliberative modes of political action as democratic means for democratic ends. Examining Dewey's writings on democracy, action, and the use of force reveals how a means-oriented pragmatism circumvents the problematic dichotomy of ideal ends and non-ideal means framing contemporary debates about idealism and realism in democratic theory. Pragmatism's account of the interdependence of means and ends in political action, as a process of creative and collaborative experimentation, combines a robust defense of coercive tactics with a consequentialist critique of violence.

Listening and Deliberation

2018 ◽  
pp. 236-250
Author(s):  
Michael Morrell
Keyword(s):  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Agonistic Democracy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Listening Studies

One key idea in the history of deliberative theory is that citizens must listen to one another, though the fullest accounts of listening come from the broader field of democratic theory. Bickford’s (1996) theory is enlightening, but more compatible with agonistic democracy. Dobson’s (2014) exhortations to take listening seriously are important, even if he distances himself from deliberation. In practice, scholars of mini-publics have examined the importance of moderators, structures, and dispositions, including empathy, for outcomes related to listening. Studies using the Deliberative Quality Index reveal factors that improve listening in legislatures. Research examining reciprocity utilize measures that could help us better understanding deliberative listening. Work by Hendriks and Sercan (2017) has even directly examined listening in deliberation. Notwithstanding these developments, we must continue refining the conceptualization and operationalization of listening if we are to understand this aspect of a successful deliberative democracy.

scholarly journals In Defence of Political Parties: A Symposium on Jonathan White and Lea Ypi’s The Meaning of Partisanship

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 289-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Bonotti ◽  
Jonathan White ◽  
Lea Leman Ypi ◽  
Gideon Calder ◽  
Mark Donovan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
The Past ◽  
Single Text ◽  
History Of

Over the past 10 years, the literature on the normative dimensions of partisanship and party politics has rapidly grown. Yet, however rich and diverse, this literature lacked so far a single text able to comprehensively map the contours of the existing debates and, at the same time, open up a range of future research avenues. Jonathan White and Lea Ypi’s The Meaning of Partisanship does an excellent job at fulfilling both tasks. First, it offers a wide-ranging and sustained engagement with key debates in the history of political thought, contemporary democratic theory and analytical political philosophy. Second, it opens up new areas of research ranging from partisanship across time to revolutionary and transnational partisanship. In this symposium, White and Ypi re-examine some of the book’s main themes by responding to the commentaries offered by six political theorists.

Democracy

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark E. Warren
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The People ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Origins

When compared to various forms of autocracy, monarchy, theocracy, oligarchy, and dictatorship, democracies are better at solving, routinizing, and institutionalizing basic problems of common social life and collective action. This article explores the historical origins of ideas that articulate and justify contemporary democratic theory and practice. First, it surveys the conceptual questions embedded in the concept of democracy inherited from the Greek, demokratia—literally, the power (kratos) of the people (demos), though commonly translated as rule of the people. Embedded in this concept of democracy we find at least four basic classes of questions: Who are “the people”? At what level of organization is “self-government” directed? How is the rule of the people translated into collective decisions and actions? Why is democracy good? The answers to these questions form, as it were, the history of democratic theory from the perspective of what historical democratic ideas and practices might contribute to the present and future of democracy.

Comparative Democratic Theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Global History ◽  
Comparative Political Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Do So

This article sketches a theoretical framework and research agenda for what is labeled as “Comparative Democratic Theory.” It is introduced as an approach to democratic theory which is informed by conceptual and methodological debates from “Comparative Political Theory” (CPT) as well as from insights from a global history of democratic thought. The inclusion of CPT perspectives into democratic theory is motivated by what is diagnosed as a conceptual blindness in Western democratic theory. When following this approach, however, the two extremes of unjustified universalism and normatively problematic relativism both must be avoided. To do so, a mode of sound abstraction is proposed, using the term “constellation,” and a discussion of aims and benefits of Comparative Democratic Theory is presented.

scholarly journals The New Unitary Executive and Democratic Theory: The Problem of Alexander Hamilton

2008 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEREMY D. BAILEY
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Alexander Hamilton ◽  
Recent Argument ◽  
The Federalist ◽  
History Of

Central to the recent argument from the “unitary executive” is the claim that the unitary executive is consistent with the text and history of the Constitution. But because this veracity and importance of this claim is contested, unitarians also argue that the unitary executive is consistent with democratic theory. This article examines that argument by addressing a question in the political thought of Alexander Hamilton. Although Hamilton was an important defender of an energetic executive, and is associated with an expansive interpretation of executive power, he wrote inThe Federalistthat the president and Senate would share the removal power. In contrast with existing scholarship, which either overlooks Hamilton's statement on removals or dismisses it as a careless error, this article argues that Hamilton's statement limiting presidential removals illuminates his larger argument about executive energy. By showing how “duration” would check “unity,” this article clarifies Hamilton's political thought and offers an important critique of the modern argument from the unitary executive.

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