The Essence and Value of Democracy

The Essence and Value of Democracy
Author: Hans Kelsen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 117
Release: 2013-08-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1442222123

Hans Kelsen is widely recognized as one of the most important legal theorists of the 20th century. Surprisingly, however, his political writings are not nearly as widely known as his legal theory, especially in the English-speaking world. This book fills the void between what is and isn't known about Hans Kelsen's political philosophy, and the ways that philosophy has and will continue to shape political debates inherent to democracy in the future. For the first time in English, this classic book - with an introduction by political theorist Nadia Urbinati - provides an overview of Kelsen's career and his contributions to 20th century political thought.

Weimar

Weimar
Author: Arthur Jacobson
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2001-01-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0520929683

This selection of the major works of constitutional theory during the Weimar period reflects the reactions of legal scholars to a state in permanent crisis, a society in which all bets were off. Yet the Weimar Republic's brief experiment in constitutionalism laid the groundwork for the postwar Federal Republic, and today its lessons can be of use to states throughout the world. Weimar legal theory is a key to understanding the experience of nations turning from traditional, religious, or command-and-control forms of legitimation to the rule of law. Only two of these authors, Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt, have been published to any extent in English, but they and the others whose writings are translated here played key roles in the political and constitutional struggles of the Weimar Republic. Critical introductions to all the theorists and commentaries on their works have been provided by experts from Austria, Canada, Germany, and the United States. In their general introduction, the editors place the Weimar debate in the context of the history and politics of the Weimar Republic and the struggle for constitutionalism in Germany. This critical scrutiny of the Weimar jurisprudence of crisis offers an invaluable overview of the perils and promise of constitutional development in states that lack an entrenched tradition of constitutionalism.

Defending Politics

Defending Politics
Author: Matthew Flinders
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2012-04-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 019964442X

Citizens around the world have become distrustful of politicians, skeptical about democratic institutions, and disillusioned about the capacity of democratic politics to resolve pressing social concerns. Many feel as if something has gone seriously wrong with democracy. Those sentiments are especially high in the U.S. as the 2012 election draws closer. In 2008, President Barack Obama ran--and won--on a promise of hope and change for a better country. Four years later, that dream for hope and change seems to be waning by the minute. Instead, disillusionment grows with the Obama adminstration's achievements, or depending where you fall on the spectrum, its lack thereof. Defending Politics meets this contemporary pessimism about the political process head on. In doing so, it aims to cultivate a shift from the negativity that appears to dominate public life towards a more buoyant and engaged "politics of optimism." Matthew Flinders makes an unfashionable but incredibly important argument of utmost simplicity: democratic politics delivers far more than most members of the public appear to acknowledge and understand. If more and more people are disappointed with what modern democratic politics delivers, is it possible that the fault lies with those who demand too much, fail to acknowledge the essence of democratic engagement, and ignore the complexities of governing in the twentieth century? Is it possible that the public in many advanced liberal democracies have become "democratically decadent," that they take what democratic politics delivers for granted? Would politics appear in a better light if we all spent less time emphasizing our individual rights and more time reflecting on our responsibilities to society and future generations? Democratic politics remains "a great and civilizing human activity...something to be valued almost as a pearl beyond price," Bernard Crick stressed in his classic In Defense of Politics fifty years ago. By returning to and updating Crick's arguments, this book provides an honest account of why democratic politics matters and why we need to reject the arguments of those who would turn their backs on "mere politics" in favor of more authoritarian, populist or technocratic forms of governing.

Democracy and Tradition

Democracy and Tradition
Author: Jeffrey Stout
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2004
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780691102931

Asking how the citizens of modern democracy can reason with one another, this book carves out a controversial position between those who view religious voices as an anathema to democracy and those who believe democratic society is a moral wasteland because such voices are not heard.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu
Author: Mfuniselwa John Bhengu
Publisher: Novalis Press (ZA)
Total Pages: 84
Release: 1996
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

This title explains the concept of Ubuntu since there is no equivalent English word for Ubuntu. Ubuntu ( the Essence of Democracy) stands for a process that is active and adaptable.

Healing the Heart of Democracy

Healing the Heart of Democracy
Author: Parker J. Palmer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2014-07-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1118970365

Hope for American democracy in an era of deep divisions In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker J. Palmer quickens our instinct to seek the common good and gives us the tools to do it. This timely, courageous and practical work—intensely personal as well as political—is not about them, "those people" in Washington D.C., or in our state capitals, on whom we blame our political problems. It's about us, "We the People," and what we can do in everyday settings like families, neighborhoods, classrooms, congregations and workplaces to resist divide-and-conquer politics and restore a government "of the people, by the people, for the people." In the same compelling, inspiring prose that has made him a bestselling author, Palmer explores five "habits of the heart" that can help us restore democracy's foundations as we nurture them in ourselves and each other: An understanding that we are all in this together An appreciation of the value of "otherness" An ability to hold tension in life-giving ways A sense of personal voice and agency A capacity to create community Healing the Heart of Democracy is an eloquent and empowering call for "We the People" to reclaim our democracy. The online journal Democracy & Education called it "one of the most important books of the early 21st Century." And Publishers Weekly, in a Starred Review, said "This beautifully written book deserves a wide audience that will benefit from discussing it."

The Essence of Politics

The Essence of Politics
Author: Cees van der Eijk
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2019-01-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9048544734

What is politics about? At its core, politics is about resolving matters that are contested in a society or group. It exists not only within and between states, but also within religious institutions, sports organisations, commercial enterprises, schools and social organisations. Politics is driven by conflict, but also by cooperation. To understand politics, we must ask specific ('key') questions about the nature of political conflict, about persons, groups and institutions that are involved, about their resources, and about the wider context that both constrains and provides opportunities for all. It also requires an understanding of concepts such as power, influence and political community, and, of course, of the terms politics, conflict and cooperation. This book is about the 'essence' of politics, which is introduced by way of key questions and concepts that are indispensable for understanding politics in many different settings.

The Democracy Project

The Democracy Project
Author: David Graeber
Publisher: Doubleday UK
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2013
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 081299356X

Explores the idea of democracy, its current state of crisis, and its potential as a tool for change, sharing historical perspectives on the effectiveness of democratic uprisings in various times and cultures.

Design as Democracy

Design as Democracy
Author: David de la Pena
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2017-12-07
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1610918479

How can we design places that fulfill urgent needs of the community, achieve environmental justice, and inspire long-term stewardship? By bringing community members to the table with designers to collectively create vibrant, important places in cities and neighborhoods. For decades, participatory design practices have helped enliven neighborhoods and promote cultural understanding. Yet, many designers still rely on the same techniques that were developed in the 1950s and 60s. These approaches offer predictability, but hold waning promise for addressing current and future design challenges. Design as Democracy is written to reinvigorate democratic design, providing inspiration, techniques, and case stories for a wide range of contexts. Edited by six leading practitioners and academics in the field of participatory design, with nearly 50 contributors from around the world, it offers fresh insights for creating meaningful dialogue between designers and communities and for transforming places with justice and democracy in mind.

Democracy in Its Essence

Democracy in Its Essence
Author: Sara Lagi
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2020-10-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1793603723

Hans Kelsen is commonly associated with legal theory and philosophy of law. Democracy in Its Essence: Hans Kelsen as a Political Thinker instead investigates Kelsen’s democratic theory as it developed between the 1920s and 1950s, which challenged the existence of democracies in many different respects. Kelsen provided a critical reflection on the strengths and problems of living within a democratic system, while also defending it against a series of specific targets: from the Soviet regime and Bolshevism to European Fascisms, from religious-based conceptions of politics to those claiming a perfect identity between capitalism and classical liberal institutions, and chiefly against all those ideologies claiming to possess objective understanding of what true freedom and true democracy signify. By seeking what he defined as the “essence” and “value” of democracy, Kelsen elaborated a pluralist, relativist, constitutional, proceduralist, and liberal theory of representative democracy, characterized by a strong recall to the values of tolerance, responsibility, and respect toward “the other” as well as to the idea of politics as space for compromise. In this book, Sara Lagi reconstructs his political theory as a relevant contribution to the twentieth-century liberal-democratic tradition of thought, while representing a stimulating reflection on the meaning and implication of democracy both as a political system and as a form of co-existence.