Representative Democracy as Kitsch, and Artificial Intelligence’s Promise of Emancipation

The chapter explores relations between modernity and the decentralization of authority, kitsch and partial centralization, the avant-garde and social media. Decentralization is identified as an important expression of modernist philosophy in current technology. As a characteristic of current directions of social progress, authority-opposing trends of modernism and post-modernism find significant support in new technology via less falsifiable decentralization based on crypto-currencies, blockchain, social media, search engines, and other products of the internet era. The scalability of classic athenian democracy to large societies is not yet accomplished by technology. Against the early modernity tendency to cheaply give the masses an almost effortless sense of participation (features associated with kitsch), the system of representative democracy promises to become more genuine through opportunities for electronic civic involvement.

Fair and Square Redistricting

The “Guide to Fair Maps” is written for citizens, advocates and commissioners, as well as legislators, lawyers and judges. This policy guide (1) discusses why Fair Maps are so important to preserve our representative democracy, (2) describes a straightforward test for gerrymandering; and (3) offers a procedure to eradicate gerrymandering while achieving other desired redistricting criteria. The guide contains a broad range of illustrative maps. An associated research paper, “Fair and Square Redistricting,” details, justifies and illustrates a new procedure for constructing legislative district maps. This approach is transparent, nonpartisan, and straightforward. The procedure builds maps where the districts are compact and the maps are verified to be free of gerrymandering.

Direct Democracy Practices of Local Authorities in Turkey

Direct democracy, an early form of democracy, which was applied in city states of ancient Athens, is at the agenda of politics again, especially at local levels due to the limitations of the representative democracy. People do not want to voice their ideas about the cities or countries where they live just once in four or five years by casting their votes in the ballot box. They desire to be involved in decision-making mechanisms, at least for relatively more important issues that might have direct effect over their lives. Today, more local governments are applying direct democracy tools in line with the expectations of local residents and as a requirement of the local governance principle of participation. Of course, as it is the case in representative democracy, direct democracy, which aims civic engagement for each significant decision, has some limitations. This chapter will explore the implementation of direct democracy by municipalities in Turkey, with all its variation, sources of motivation, opportunities, and challenges.

Open the Public Space

This chapter shows the characters and problems of local democracy through analyzing local referendums in Japan. The author starts the discussion by posing three questions: (1) Why is the number of local referendums increasing? (2) Is the dialogue between citizens and local councilors efficient? (3) Can transformations in local democracy be observed? This chapter regards the history of local referendums as a lesson of democracy and reveals the necessity of dialogue through campaigns of local referendums. It comprises three parts: (1) the history of local referendums in Japan, (2) a theoretical background on local referendums and representative democracy, and (3) the analysis of a local referendum in the city of Matue in Shimane Prefecture.

Direct Democracy at the Local Level in Switzerland

Switzerland's more than 2,200 municipalities enjoy a high degree of autonomy and strongly developed direct democratic rights. The diversity of communal forms of direct democracy is correspondingly large. This chapter aims to trace the basic structures of these local democracies. One important distinction is at the centre of the argument. While the majority of municipalities are organised in direct democratic assemblies, the parliamentary system dominates in the larger cities and in many municipalities in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland. However, equating parliaments with representative democracy and municipal assemblies with radical, direct democracy falls short of the mark. In fact, the local level reveals a vibrant and diverse mix of models of democracy. Depending on the cultural area and the situation of the individual municipalities, different approaches are taken to involve the voters in democratic decision making.

Memahami Identitas : Studi Kasus Identitas Agama Orang Baduy di Kabupaten Lebak (Analisis Politik Praktis Terhadap Identitas Suku Baduy)

The Baduy community's adherence to pikukuh karuhun (customary rules), especially the inner Baduy in Lebak Regency, Banten Province, uses a representation system, which is represented by Puun (customary leader). Representative democracy is based on the results of a predetermined deliberation. The Baduy do not have close ties to political parties and other public officials. The Baduy community prioritizes and attaches importance to pikukuh karuhun and tribal unity so that there are no divisions caused by political interests. The Baduy do not refuse democracy, but there are only limits with pikukuh karuhun that cannot be violated and must be preserved. This study aims to understand the reality that occurs to the Baduy community in the election process starting from voting activities, the adaptation process which is very different from the Baduy tribe, an understanding of the rights and obligations in elections and the differences in structure and reality from outside the Baduy tribe. Keywords: subcultural society, phenomenology, political reality. AbstrakKetaatan masyarakat Baduy terhadap pikukuh karuhun (aturan adat) terutama Baduy dalam di Kabupaten Lebak Provinsi Banten yang menggunakan sistem keterwakilan, yang diwakili oleh Puun (Pimpinan adat). Demokrasi keterwakilan tersebut berdasarkan hasil musyawarah yang telah ditentukan sebelumnya. Suku Baduy tidak memiliki kedekatan dengan partai politik dan pejabat publik lainnya. Masyarakat Baduy lebih mengedepankan dan mementingkan pikukuh karuhun dan persatuan suku agar tidak terjadi perpecahan yang diakibatkan kerana kepentingan politik. Suku Baduy tidak menolak untuk berdemokrasi, namun saja hanya terdapat batasan dengan pikukuh karuhun yang tidak boleh dilanggar dan harus tetap dilestarikan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memahami realitas yang terjadi terhadap masyarakat Baduy dalam proses pemilu mulai dari kegiatan pencoblosan, proses adaptasi yang sangat berbeda dengan suku Baduy, pemahaman tentang hak dan kewajiban dalam pemilu dan perbedaan struktur dan realitas dari luar suku Baduy. Kata kunci : masyarakat subkultural, fenomenologi, realitas politik.

Personal or Impersonal Evaluations? Political Sophistication and Citizen Conceptions of the Democratic Process

An energetic scholarly debate discusses possible reforms of representative democracy. Some support participatory forms of democracy, others a more elite-driven or technocratic democracy. This study contributes to the growing literature on the subject by emphasizing political sophistication as a theoretically relevant predictor of attitudes to democracy: different models of democracy make different demands regarding the political sophistication of citizens. The analysis includes two dimensions and three measures of sophistication: personal sophistication measured as political knowledge and internal efficacy, and impersonal sophistication measured as assessment of others’ political competence. Using the 2011 Finnish National Election Study, we find that perceptions of the sophistication of others have a substantial impact on preferences for political decision-making, and that politically sophisticated people support representative democracy. The analysis shows that perceptions of others’ political competence, which has been largely neglected by previous research, is a both theoretically and empirically relevant predictor of preferences for political decision-making processes.

Debating Democracy

Around the world, faith in democracy is falling. Partisanship and mutual distrust are increasing. What, if anything, should we do about these problems? In this accessible work, leading philosophers Jason Brennan and Hélène Landemore debate whether the solution lies in having less democracy or more. Brennan argues that democracy has systematic flaws, and that democracy does not and cannot work the way most of us commonly assume. He argues the best solution is to limit democracy’s scope and to experiment with certain voting systems that can overcome democracy’s problems. Landemore argues that democracy’s virtues, which stem, at an ideal level, from its inclusiveness and egalitarian distribution of power, are not properly manifested in the historical regime form that we call “representative democracy.” Whereas representative democracy centers on an oligarchic form of representation by elected officials, Landemore defends a more authentic paradigm of popular rule—open democracy—in which legislative power is open to all on an equal basis, including via lottery-based mechanisms.