Co-Operative Governance Fit to Build Resilience in the Face of Complexity
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Democracy in the United States
Democracy in the United States The United States is a representative democracy. This means that our government is elected by citizens. Here, citizens vote for their government officials. These officials represent the citizens’ ideas and concerns in government. Voting is one way to participate in our democracy. Citizens can also contact their officials when they want to support or change a law. Voting in an election and contacting our elected officials are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy. Voting booth in Atascadero, California, in 2008. Photo by Ace Armstrong. Courtesy of the Polling Place Photo Project. Your Government and You H www.uscis.gov/citizenship 1 Becoming a U.S. Citizen Taking the Oath of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of USCIS. The process required to become a citizen is called naturalization. To become a U.S. citizen, you must meet legal requirements. You must complete an interview with a USCIS officer. You must also pass an English and Civics test. Then, you take the Oath of Allegiance. This means that you promise loyalty to the United States. When you become a U.S. citizen, you also make these promises: ★ give up loyalty to other countries ★ defend the Constitution and laws of the United States ★ obey the laws of the United States ★ serve in the U.S. military (if needed) ★ do important work for the nation (if needed) After you take the Oath of Allegiance, you are a U.S. citizen. 2 Your Government and You H www.uscis.gov/citizenship Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Voting is one important right and responsibility of U.S. -
E-Participation: a Quick Overview of Recent Qualitative Trends
DESA Working Paper No. 163 ST/ESA/2020/DWP/163 JANUARY 2020 E-participation: a quick overview of recent qualitative trends Author: David Le Blanc ABSTRACT This paper briefly takes stock of two decades of e-participation initiatives based on a limited review of the academic literature. The purpose of the paper is to complement the results of the e-government Survey 2020. As such, the emphasis is on aspects that the e-government survey (based on analysis of e-government portals and on quantitative indicators) does not capture directly. Among those are the challenges faced by e-participation initiatives and key areas of attention for governments. The paper maps the field of e-par- ticipation and related activities, as well as its relationships with other governance concepts. Areas of recent development in terms of e-participation applications are briefly reviewed. The paper selectively highlights conclusions from the literature on different participation tools, as well as a list of key problematic areas for policy makers. The paper concludes that while e-participation platforms using new technologies have spread rapidly in developed countries in the first decade of the 2000s and in developing countries during the last 10 years, it is not clear that their multiplication has translated into broader or deeper citizen participation. Be- yond reasons related to technology access and digital skills, factors such as lack of understanding of citizens’ motivations to participate and the reluctance of public institutions to genuinely share agenda setting and decision-making power seem to play an important role in the observed limited progress. -
Research Papers
RESEARCH PAPERS FACTORS AFFECTING PARTICIPATION OF PRESERVICE TEACHERS IN E-DEMOCRACY By SERKAN ŞENDAĞ * SACIP TOKER ** * Associate Professor, Computer Education and Instructional Technology, School of Education, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey. ** Ph.D holder, Instructional Technology, Department of Administrative and Organizational Studies, College of Education, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA. ABSTRACT This study aimed to reveal the factors associated with the participation of preservice teachers in e-democracy. It was designed as a correlational study and 1,519 preservice teachers from a teacher preparation program in Turkey participated in it by completing a 54-item questionnaire. As a result, three major factors for involvement in e-democracy emerged: knowledge and environment, ethics, and anxiety. In addition, two types of participation were revealed: anonymous and onymous. The results of the study showed that anonymous participation correlates positively with Political Knowledge, and negatively with Current State of Politics and Digital Integrity. Those who have mobile technologies with internet connection are more likely to participate anonymously in e-democracy. On the other hand, Onymous participation, correlates positively with Fear of Self-expression, and negatively with Political Knowledge and Digital Citizenship. Males were shown to be more prone to both types of participation than females. Internet usage frequency was a common variable triggering both types of participation. The paper ends with recommendations for further research. Keywords: E-Democracy, E-Participation, Preservice Teachers, Explanatory Higher-Order Factor Analysis, Multiple and Quantile Regression. INTRODUCTION be supported by the Internet, which will alter representation Now-a-days, several factors are urging higher education as well as politicians’ attitudes toward the public (Cardoso, institutions to change, such as internalization, massification, Cunha & Nascimento, 2006). -
Democracy on the Precipice Council of Europe Democracy 2011-12 Council of Europe Publishing Debates
Democracy on the Precipice Democracy Democracy is well-established and soundly practiced in most European countries. But despite unprecedented progress, there is growing dissatisfaction with the state of democracy and deepening mistrust of democratic institutions; a situation exacer- Democracy on the Precipice bated by the economic crisis. Are Europe’s democracies really under threat? Has the traditional model of European democracy exhausted its potential? A broad consensus is forming as to the urgent need to examine the origins of the crisis and to explore Council of Europe visions and strategies which could contribute to rebuilding confidence in democracy. Democracy Debates 2011-12 As Europe’s guardian of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, the Council of Europe is committed to exploring the state and practice of European democracy, as Debates of Europe Publishing 2011-12 Council Council of Europe Democracy well as identifying new challenges and anticipating future trends. In order to facilitate Preface by Thorbjørn Jagland this reflection, the Council of Europe held a series of Democracy Debates with the participation of renowned specialists working in a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. This publication presents the eight Democracy Debate lectures. Each presentation Zygmunt Bauman analyses a specific aspect of democracy today, placing the issues not only in their political context but also addressing the historical, technological and communication Ulrich Beck dimensions. The authors make proposals on ways to improve democratic governance Ayşe Kadıoğlu and offer their predictions on how democracy in Europe may evolve. Together, the presentations contribute to improving our understanding of democracy today and to John Keane recognising the ways it could be protected and strengthened. -
Types of Democracy the Democratic Form of Government Is An
Types of Democracy The democratic form of government is an institutional configuration that allows for popular participation through the electoral process. According to political scientist Robert Dahl, the democratic ideal is based on two principles: political participation and political contestation. Political participation requires that all the people who are eligible to vote can vote. Elections must be free, fair, and competitive. Once the votes have been cast and the winner announced, power must be peacefully transferred from one individual to another. These criteria are to be replicated on a local, state, and national level. A more robust conceptualization of democracy emphasizes what Dahl refers to as political contestation. Contestation refers to the ability of people to express their discontent through freedom of the speech and press. People should have the ability to meet and discuss their views on political issues without fear of persecution from the state. Democratic regimes that guarantee both electoral freedoms and civil rights are referred to as liberal democracies. In the subfield of Comparative Politics, there is a rich body of literature dealing specifically with the intricacies of the democratic form of government. These scholarly works draw distinctions between democratic regimes based on representative government, the institutional balance of power, and the electoral procedure. There are many shades of democracy, each of which has its own benefits and disadvantages. Types of Democracy The broadest differentiation that scholars make between democracies is based on the nature of representative government. There are two categories: direct democracy and representative democracy. We can identify examples of both in the world today. -
Argentina's Delegative Democracy: a Case Study
ARGENTINA’S DELEGATIVE DEMOCRACY: A CASE STUDY A dissertation presented by Florencia Inés Gabriele to The Department of Political Science In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Political Science Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts December 2013 1 ARGENTINA’S DELEGATIVE DEMOCRACY: A CASE STUDY by Florencia Ines Gabriele ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities of Northeastern University December, 2013 2 ABSTRACT This study analyses why Argentina remained an immature and underdeveloped delegative democracy rather than a fully-liberal democratic polity. Following the work of Guillermo O’Donnell this work explores the quality of, and serious deficiencies in, Argentina’s democracy. This work pays special attention to presidential use and misuse of Decrees of Necessity and Urgency by as a means to govern alone, thus bypassing Congress and how there is no existing check and balances in the government in this regard. Observing delegative democracies, this work also examines the following: the use of economic restrictions, use of policies such as nationalizations, privatizations, management of the federal budget, international relations of the country, restriction on the media, behavior of the judiciary branch, changes in the national constitution, and decreasing role of the Vice President. This work analyzes the relationship between democracy, decrees of necessity and urgency, laws sanctioned by Congress and inflation using transfer function models. Democracy is measured using the Polity IV dataset. There is a causal relationship among the explanatory variables (inputs) —the numbers of laws passed by Congress, inflation, and number of DNU — and Democracy (output). -
From Participatory Democracy to Digital Democracy
Fast Capitalism ISSN 1930-014X Volume 1 • Issue 2 • 2005 doi:10.32855/fcapital.200502.003 From Participatory Democracy to Digital Democracy Mark Kann Tom Hayden posted on his website, http://www.tomhayden.com, an article he coauthored with Dick Flacks to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Port Huron Statement. The two SDS founders concluded, “Perhaps the most important legacy of the Port Huron Statement is the fact that it introduced the concept of participatory democracy to popular discourse and practice.” The concept of participatory democracy encompassed values such as equality, decentralization, and consensus decision-making. It provided direction for “all those trying to create a world where each person has a voice in the decisions affecting his or her life.” [1] In this article, I suggest that Port Huron’s concept of participatory democracy included some ideas that were potentially antithetical to democracy and that potential, unfortunately, is being fulfilled in contemporary theories of digital democracy. The Port Huron Statement Revisited The Port Huron Statement contained two underlying themes that potentially subverted democratic equality. One was the notion that the American people were fundamentally flawed, most apparently, by their apathy. The other was that the best means to eliminate this flaw was to follow the lead of rational, deliberative activists. Both themes could be (and would be) used to justify political inequalities. Port Huron’s student-authors expressed a dim view of American citizens. The American people had closed minds. They exhibited a foolish confidence that the nation could muddle through its problems. They harbored a false sense of contentment, “a glaze above deeply felt anxieties,” arising out of loneliness, isolation, and estrangement. -
No Profit, No Hierarchy. a Comparative Study of the Lower Left (Version 3
No profit, no hierarchy: A comparative study of the 'lower left' Dr. Edurne Scott Loinaz Version 3: November 2019. With thanks for feedback and suggestions from Mayel de Borniol, Ruth Kinna, James Lewis, Horatio Trobinson and Michele Kipiel. 1 What is the lower left? The lower left is defined by anarchist writer Margaret Killjoy (2016) as “any society that does not desire a state and does desire economic cooperation … [which] is unique in its potential for internal solidarity.” All organisations included in this study (and from hereon defined as lower left) met the following criteria: ● Autonomous (do not rely on state funding for operations); ● Use horizontal organisation for planning and decision making (non-hierarchical, eg., AK Press’ ‘No boss, no managers, no bullshit’ policy); ● Not for profit; ● Anti-capitalist (organisations run as worker-owned cooperatives, by volunteers, by crowdfunding etc., and which have no aims for ‘job creation’ a.k.a. the perpetuation of ‘bullshit jobs’); ● Are actively forming new social institutions and transforming oppressive ones (as opposed to lower left groups set up to resist and dismantle the current establishment, which though indispensable to the former group, are beyond the scope of this study). What makes organisations in the lower left different to every other organisation? This study, conducted between March and September 2018, aimed to answer this question using a comparative design which works best when the organisations studied are maximally different: hence how lower left organisations are different to groups organised by capitalists and authoritarians. 66 lower left organisations were included in the study (more details to follow). -
Participatory Democracy and Micropolitics in Manbij
REPORT ARAB POLITICS BEYOND THE UPRISINGS Participatory Democracy and Micropolitics in Manbij An Unthinkable Revolution FEBRUARY 21, 2017 — YASSER MUNIF PAGE 1 Manbij, a city in northern Syria, hosted a compelling example of successful grassroots governance during the two-year period between the Syrian regime’s withdrawal from the city in 2012 and the Islamic State’s takeover in 2014. Drawing on hundreds of interviews conducted in Manbij in 2013, the author shows that the city established an innovative local political system during this interregnum. The new local government faced significant challenges, and made many mistakes, which the author discusses in detail. But those mistakes were not the undoing of Manbij’s revolutionaries. Instead, as in many other places in Syria, external forces derailed their efforts, buoyed by a Western narrative that seemed unable to even conceive of the kind of peaceful revolution under construction in Manbij. Still, Manbij’s experience holds important lessons—and could yet be the foundation for more participatory governance in Syria over the long term. Twenty miles south of the Turkish border, on a plateau to the west of the Euphrates, lies the Syrian city of Manbij.1 With a population of two hundred thousand, it is located halfway between the cities of Aleppo and Raqqa, the latter of which is the de facto capital of the Islamic State. Manbij is a millennia- old city with a history, like so many urban places in Syria, of religious and ethnic diversity; it has passed through the hands of many empires, ranging from the Assyrians to the Ottomans. -
Electronic Democracy the World of Political Science— the Development of the Discipline
Electronic Democracy The World of Political Science— The development of the discipline Book series edited by Michael Stein and John Trent Professors Michael B. Stein and John E. Trent are the co-editors of the book series “The World of Political Science”. The former is visiting professor of Political Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Emeritus Professor, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The latter is a Fellow in the Center of Governance of the University of Ottawa, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and a former professor in its Department of Political Science. Norbert Kersting (ed.) Electronic Democracy Barbara Budrich Publishers Opladen • Berlin • Toronto 2012 An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. The Open Access ISBN for this book is 978-3-86649-546-3. More information about the initiative and links to the Open Access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org © 2012 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. (CC- BY-SA 4.0) It permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you share under the same license, give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ © 2012 Dieses Werk ist beim Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH erschienen und steht unter der Creative Commons Lizenz Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Diese Lizenz erlaubt die Verbreitung, Speicherung, Vervielfältigung und Bearbeitung bei Verwendung der gleichen CC-BY-SA 4.0-Lizenz und unter Angabe der UrheberInnen, Rechte, Änderungen und verwendeten Lizenz. -
Pedagogy and Deliberative Democracy: Insights from Recent Experiments in the United Kingdom
PEDAGOGY AND DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY: INSIGHTS FROM RECENT EXPERIMENTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM Brenton Prosser, Matthew Flinders, Will Jennings, Alan Renwick, Paolo Spada, Gerry Stoker, and Katie Ghose A growing body of research and data suggests the existence of a disconnection between citizens, politicians and representative politics in advanced industrial democracies. This has led to a literature on the emergence of post-democratic or post-representative politics that connects to a parallel seam of scholarship on the capacity of deliberative democratic innovations to ‘close the gap’. This latter body of work has delivered major insights in terms of democratic design in ways that traverse ‘politics as theory’ and ‘politics as practice’. And yet the main argument of this article is that this seam of scholarship has generally failed to emphasise or explore the nature of learning, or comprehend the existence of numerous pedagogical relationships that exist within the very fibre of deliberative processes. As such, the core contribution of this article focuses around the explication and application of a ‘pedagogical pyramid’ that applies a micro-political lens to deliberative processes. This theoretical contribution is empirically dissected and assessed with reference to a recent project in the United Kingdom that sought to test different citizen assembly designs in the context of plans for English regional devolution. The proposition being tested is that a better understanding of relational pedagogy within innovations is vital for democratic reconnection, not just to increase levels of knowledge and mutual understanding, but also to build the capacity, confidence and contribution of democratically active citizens. KEYWORDS Pedagogy; Micro-Politics; Democratic Innovations; Citizen’s Assemblies; Deliberation; Learning Relationships A key feature of mechanisms of democratic innovation is that they are designed to increase and deepen citizen participation in the political decision-making process (Smith, 2009). -
Using Deliberative Democracy for Better Urban Decision-Making Through Integrative Thinking
Article Using Deliberative Democracy for Better Urban Decision-Making through Integrative Thinking Janette Hartz-Karp and Dora Marinova * Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: This article expands the evidence about integrative thinking by analyzing two case studies that applied the collaborative decision-making method of deliberative democracy which encourages representative, deliberative and influential public participation. The four-year case studies took place in Western Australia, (1) in the capital city Perth and surrounds, and (2) in the city-region of Greater Geraldton. Both aimed at resolving complex and wicked urban sustainability challenges as they arose. The analysis suggests that a new way of thinking, namely integrative thinking, emerged during the deliberations to produce operative outcomes for decision-makers. Building on theory and research demonstrating that deliberative designs lead to improved reasoning about complex issues, the two case studies show that through discourse based on deliberative norms, participants developed different mindsets, remaining open-minded, intuitive and representative of ordinary people’s basic common sense. This spontaneous appearance of integrative thinking enabled sound decision-making about complex and wicked sustainability-related urban issues. In both case studies, the participants exhibited all characteristics of integrative thinking to produce outcomes for decision-makers: salience—grasping the problems’ multiple aspects; causality—identifying multiple sources of impacts; sequencing—keeping the whole in view while focusing on specific aspects; and resolution—discovering novel ways that avoided bad choice trade-offs. Keywords: sustainability; deliberative democracy; mini-publics; integrative thinking; participatory Citation: Hartz-Karp, J.; Marinova, D.