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The global explosion of online activity is steadily transforming the relationship between government and the public. The first wave of change, e-government, enlisted the Internet to improve management and the delivery of services. More recently, e-democracy has aimed to enhance democracy itself using digital information and communication technology. One notable example of e-democratic practice is the government-sponsored (or government-authorized) online forum for public input on policymaking. This book investigates these online consultations and their effect on democratic practice in the United States and Europe, examining the potential of Internet-enabled policy forums to enrich democratic...
By cutting across party and committee lines, legislative member organizations facilitate the flow of vital information
Congressional debates are increasingly defined by gridlock and stalemate, with partisan showdowns that lead to government shutdowns. Compromise in Congress seems hard to reach, but do politicians deserve all the blame? Legislators who refuse to compromise might be doing just what their constituents want them to do. In Compromise in an Age of Party Polarization, Jennifer Wolak challenges this wisdom and demonstrates that Americans value compromise in politics. Citizens want more from elected officials than just ideological representation--they also care about the processes by which disagreements are settled. Using evidence from a variety of surveys and innovative experiments, she shows the persistence of people's support for compromise across a range of settings-even when it comes at the cost of partisan goals and policy objectives. While polarization levels are high in contemporary America, our partisan demands are checked by our principled views of how we believe politics should be practiced. By underscoring this basic yet mostly ignored fact, this book stands as an important first step toward trying to reduce the extreme polarization that plagues our politics.
What might a society that utilizes the valuable insights from the perspectives of philosophy, religion, and social science look like? This volume examines these principles to improve our social institutions, from education, social welfare, government, and criminal justice to the economy. The contributors apply their knowledge in a hands-on, practical way, making this book accessible to teachers, police officers, social workers, economists, congressional legislators, and undergraduates. Professors and students across all these areas will find a real-world application of their subjects. Those who think ‘big-picture’ about society or have a general interest in philosophy, religion, or social science will find ideas here that will spark their imagination and, perhaps, action.
Many observers of American politics believe that representative government, particularly in the Congress, is failing. This book examines the case for failure: what are the outward signs, and how do they reflect breaches of underlying norms of fair and effective representation? The book argues that good representation demands healthy competition between parties, but that in today's America, that competition has run off the rails.
Although the field of deliberative civic engagement is growing rapidly around the world, our knowledge and understanding of its practice and impacts remain highly fragmented. Democracy in Motion represents the first comprehensive attempt to assess the practice and impact of deliberative civic engagement. Organized in a series of chapters that address the big questions of deliberative civic engagement, it uses theory, research, and practice from around the world to explore what we know about, how we know it, and what remains to be understood. More than a simple summary of research, the book is designed to be accessible and useful to a wide variety of audiences, from scholars and practitioners...
Provides research on e-government and its implications within the global context. Covers topics such as digital government, electronic justice, government-to-government, information policy, and cyber-infrastructure research and methodologies.
Drawing on almost a decade of first-hand experience, Principles of Digital Democracy presents a unique look at digital democracy tools in action. Whether it is carbon budgeting in Canada, voting on legislation in Italy or policy consultation in Taiwan, this book explains not just what is possible to achieve with digital democracy tools today, but how to assess the life-cycle of civic engagement, as well as different approaches to security and policy implementation. Principles of Digital Democracy combines theory with practice, giving the reader an overarching theory of the components (Bestandteile) of digital democracy (e.g. ideation, deliberation, decision-making), as well as numerous case studies from around the world. Interviews with organizers and participants provide further insight into who participates in digital democracy and why they do so.
It is easy to be in favor of a government that reflects the will of people you like. It is more difficult to be in favor of a government that reflects the will of people you hate. But this is precisely what democracy requires of us. And one of the most serious threats facing democracy today, in the United States and around the world, is the discomfort that many citizens feel toward this core democratic principle: that even those citizens we think of as evil, deluded, or simply wrong should still be allowed a say in what their own government does. Perhaps the best hope of resolving this tension can be found in the idea of deliberative democracy, which sees a particular form of non-coercive di...
Democracy today faces deep and complex challenges, especially when it comes to political communication and the quality of public discourse. Dishonest and manipulative communication amplified by unscrupulous politicians and media pervades these diabolical times, enabling right-wing populism, extremism, truth denial, and authoritarianism to flourish. To tackle these issues, we need to encourage meaningful deliberative communication – creating spaces for reflective and constructive dialogue, repairing unhealthy public spheres while preserving healthier ones, and building discursive bridges across deep divides. Citizens who see through elite manipulations should be at the core of this response, especially if bad elite behavior is to be effectively constrained. Democratic activists and leaders, diverse interpersonal networks, resilient public spheres, deliberative innovations and clever communication strategies all have vital roles to play in both defending and renewing democracy. Healthy discursive infrastructures can make democracies work again.