Participatory Democracy

When faced with an urgent and credible threat of grave harm, we should take proportionate precautions. This maxim captures the core commitments of the “precautionary principle”. But what is it for a precaution to be “proportionate”? I construct an account of proportionality (the “ARCANE” account) that consists of five fundamental conditions (absolute rights compatibility, reasonable compensation, consistency, adequacy and non- excessiveness) and a tie-breaker (efficiency). I apply this account to two examples from the COVID-19 pandemic (border closures and school closures), (...) arguing that my account captures the key questions on which it is both feasible and important to integrate expert input with democratic input. I close by considering how we might try to manage the risk of future pandemics in a proportionate way. (shrink)

Este artículo brinda algunas respuestas y alternativas a ciertos problemas y propuestas en el área de la teoría democrática. El ensayo tiene como enfoque la cuestión de distinguir sistemas que pueden parecer democráticos sin serlo de sistemas realmente democráticos. Develando algunos actores disfrazados del discurso democrático en América Latina, el artículo argumenta que es preferible la regla de la mayoría como base para la identificación del bien común por medio del interés general, que reglas de minorías, consentimiento total o bases (...) constitucionales opuestas al gobierno de la mayoría. Esto se hace sin desestimar a las minorías ni las constituciones, ni lo ideal de la unanimidad. Simplemente las ubica. La investigación incluye una nueva respuesta al problema de la supuesta irracionalidad de la democracia identificada originalmente por Platón y después formalizada por Arrow. (shrink)

Few recent developments in information technology have been as hyped as blockchain, the first implementation of which was the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Such hype furnishes ample reason to be skeptical about the promise of blockchain implementations, but I contend that there’s something to the hype. In particular, I think that certain blockchain implementations, in the right material, social, and political conditions, constitute excellent bases for common knowledge. As a case study, I focus on trust in election outcomes, where the ledger records (...) not financial transactions but vote tallies. I argue that blockchain implementations could foster warranted trust in vote tallies and thereby trust in the democratic process. Finally, I argue that if the promise of blockchain implementations as democratic infrastructure is to be realized, then democracies first need to ensure that these material, social, and political conditions obtain. (shrink)

Many political theorists and philosophers use Condorcet's Jury Theorem to defend democracy. This paper illustrates an uncomfortable implication of Condorcet's Jury Theorem. Realistically, when the conditions of Condorcet’s Jury Theorem hold, even in very high stakes elections, having more than 100,000 citizens vote does no significant good in securing good political outcomes. On the Condorcet model, unless voters enjoy voting, or unless they produce some other value by voting, then the cost to most voters of voting exceeds the expected epistemic (...) benefits to the common good of their casting a vote. Anyone who is committed to democracy on the basis of the Jury Theorem ought also to hold that widespread voting is wasteful, at least unless she can provide some further justification of mass democratic participation. (shrink)

This paper articulates a general distinction between two important communicative ideals—expressive sincerity and discursive integrity—and then uses it to analyze problems with political debate in contemporary democracies. In the context of philosophical discussions of different forms of trustworthiness and debates about deliberative democracy, self-knowledge, and moral testimony, the paper develops three arguments for the conclusion that, although expressive sincerity is valuable, we should not ignore discursive integrity in thinking about how to address problems with contemporary political debate. The paper concludes (...) with a brief discussion of a strategy for improving discursive integrity within public political debate by reflecting on which principles of responsible public debate would promote better democratic decision making. (shrink)

This paper argues against the call to democratize artificial intelligence. Several authors demand to reap purported benefits that rest in direct and broad participation: In the governance of AI, more people should be more involved in more decisions about AI—from development and design to deployment. This paper opposes this call. The paper presents five objections against broadening and deepening public participation in the governance of AI. The paper begins by reviewing the literature and carving out a set of claims that (...) are associated with the call to “democratize AI”. It then argues that such a democratization of AI rests on weak grounds, because it does not answer to a demand of legitimization, is redundant in that it overlaps with existing governance structures, is resource intensive, which leads to injustices, is morally myopic and thereby creates popular oversights and moral problems of its own, and finally, is neither theoretically nor practically the right kind of response to the injustices that animate the call. The paper concludes by suggesting that AI should be democratized not by broadening and deepening participation but by increasing the democratic quality of the administrative and executive elements of collective decision making. In a slogan: The question is not so much whether AI should be democratized but how. (shrink)

In this article, I claim that at least some young people have the requisite capacity for political participation, and that the exclusion of these young people is in breach of the reasonable expectation that all capable citizens are included in democratic processes. I suggest implementing a capacity test for those under the current age of majority. I outline a system of capacity testing for the youth, distinguish this proposal from prior attempts to justify capacity testing and argue that a suitably (...) constrained capacity testing regime is not simply defensible, but superior to the current system, which arbitrarily excludes some capable members of society from participation. Finally, I explain why only this limited capacity testing regime is acceptable. (shrink)

This article is a review of the contemporary ‘leftist’ republican project. The project stands on two legs, and we examine them both in turn. The first leg is a novel reading of history. This reading suggests, on the one hand that, contrary to some popular assumptions, republicanism does have a leftist, even a radical stream. But on the other hand, it also suggests that several authors and movements that did not self-identify as republicans actually did, in fact, employ a characteristically (...) republican thinking. The second leg of the project is a normative one. It is essentially an attempt by political philosophers to demonstrate that there is something in republican theory from which all these leftist, even radical streams spring forth. Primarily, it is suggested that it is republicanism’s sensitivity to the freedom-restricting role of great inequalities of power that provides the normative resource for the development of a characteristically republican critique of capital and capitalism. We briefly review the main arguments in favor of these claims, and also, as a conclusion, raise a few challenges that the ‘leftist’ republican project potentially faces. (shrink)

Online deliberation is one important instance of civic tech that is both for and by the citizens, through engaging citizens in Internet-supported deliberative discussions on public issues. This article explains the origins of a set of symposium articles in this journal issue based on the 2017 'International Conference on Deliberation and Decision Making: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Civic Tech' held in Singapore. Symposium articles are presented in a sequence that flows from designing decision making systems to platforms to specific technological nudges.

The question of education for democratic ‘empowerment and liberation’, and how this might guide pedagogic practice is seldom raised and extremely challenging for social work education today. This chapter takes up the proposition that social work, through its educational practices, ‘can’ deliver on its promise of ‘democratic practice’ if democracy is understood as a process and not a predefined product. We argue that such a process and its embodiment in institutions cannot exist without the formation of radically democratic subjects, people (...) (including social workers) capable of questioning dominant social forms and of creating new forms and practices. Accordingly, this chapter explores the educational implications for social work of the work of the revolutionary theorist, Cornelius Castoriadis (1921–1997). Castoriadis’ philosophy accords a crucial role to democratic pedagogy (paideía) as an essential form of praxis in the creation of a radically democratic, egalitarian and sustainable society. In particular, we examine his idea (against (neo)liberal individualisation) that ‘autonomy’ is simultaneously an individual and social project that begins in, and is always dependent upon, individual and collective self-reflection. This argument is illustrated by examples from the authors’ classroom experiences of teaching both critical reflection and critical social theory to social work students in Australian universities, on the premise that both are indispensable in social work education as a democratic practice for ‘empowerment and liberation’. The chapter outlines a brief discussion of Castoriadis, his main ideas and the pedagogic dimensions of his philosophy before bringing the latter to bear on the authors’ teaching experiences. (shrink)

This paper critiques the All-Subjected Principle. The All-Subjected Principle is one of the most prominent answers to the Boundary Problem, which consists in determining who should be entitled to participate in which democratic decision. The All-Subjected Principle comes in many versions, but the general idea is that all people who are subjected in a relevant sense with regard to a democratic decision should be entitled to participate in that decision. One respect in which versions of the All-Subjected Principle differ concerns (...) how to best understand ‘subjectedness’. One view spells out ‘subjectedness’ in terms of legal bindingness. Another view understands ‘subjectedness’ in terms of coercion. I argue that the All-Subjected Principle is extensionally inadequate on both views in that it yields verdicts that are at odds with our considered judgements about certain cases. These cases involve legal norms of referral or international administrative assistance. (shrink)

Although successive generations of digital technology have become increasingly powerful in the past 20 years, digital democracy has yet to realize its potential for deliberative transformation. The undemocratic exploitation of massive social media systems continued this trend, but it only worsened an existing problem of modern democracies, which were already struggling to develop deliberative infrastructure independent of digital technologies. There have been many creative conceptions of civic tech, but implementation has lagged behind innovation. This article argues for implementing one such (...) vision of digital democracy through the establishment of a public corporation. Modeled on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the United States, this entity would foster the creation of new digital technology by providing a stable source of funding to nonprofit technologists, interest groups, civic organizations, government, researchers, private companies, and the public. Funded entities would produce and maintain software infrastructure for public benefit. The concluding sections identify what circumstances might create and sustain such an entity. (shrink)

Volume 20, Issue 5, June 2020, Page 80-81.

Those who care about and engage in politics frequently fall victim to cognitive bias. Concerns that such bias impacts scholarship recently have prompted debates—notably, in philosophy and psychology—on the proper relationship between research and politics. One proposal emerging from these debates is that researchers studying politics have a professional duty to avoid political activism because it risks biasing their work. While sympathetic to the motivations behind this proposal, I suggest several reasons to reject a blanket duty to avoid activism: (1) (...) even if it reduced bias, this duty would make unreasonable demands on researchers; (2) this duty could hinder research by limiting viewpoint diversity; (3) this duty wrongly implies that academia offers a relative haven from bias compared to politics; and (4) not all forms of political activism pose an equal risk of bias. None of these points suggest that researchers should ignore the risk of bias. Rather, researchers should focus on stronger evidence-based strategies for reducing bias than a blanket recommendation to avoid politics. (shrink)

In this essay, I address several questions and challenges brought about by the contributors to the special issue on my book Democracy without Shortcuts. In particular, I address some implications of my critique of deep pluralism; distinguish between three senses of ‘blind deference’: political, reflective, and informational; draw a critical parallelism between the populist conception of representation as embodiment and the conception of ‘citizen-representatives’ often ascribed to participants in deliberative minipublics; defend the democratic attractiveness of participatory uses over empowered uses (...) of deliberative minipublics; clarify why accepting public reason constraints does not imply limiting deliberation to questions about constitutional rights, and argue that overcoming a state-centric conception of democracy does not require replacing the ‘all subjected’ principle with the ‘all affected’ principle. (shrink)

In this essay, I address some questions and challenges brought about by the contributors to this special issue on my book ‘Democracy without Shortcuts’. First, I clarify different aspects of my cri...

Post-truth has become a commonplace strategy. No longer are objective facts viewed as having evidentiary value; scientific knowledge is on a par with emotions or personal beliefs. We intend to show that in the context of post-truth, those proffering and receiving an assertion do not care about the truth-value of the assertion or about the best way to gather evidence concerning it. Such attitudes raise several questions about how relativism can be a corrupting influence in contemporary democracies. We will analyse (...) Steve Fuller’s use of the term «post-truth» – especially, the political connotations about epistemic democracy that he highlights. Instead, we offer a pragmatist defence of the truth and an alternative meaning of epistemic democracy. (shrink)

In 2016, the United Nation’s General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution regarding ‘The Promotion, Protection and Enjoyment of Human Rights on the Internet’. At the heart of this resolution is the UN’s concern that ‘rights that people have offline must also be protected online.’ While the UN thus recognises the importance of the Internet, it does so problematically selectively by focusing on protecting existing offline rights online. I argue instead that Internet access is itself a moral human right that requires (...) that everyone has unmonitored and uncensored access to this global medium, which should be publicly provided free of charge for those unable to afford it. Rather than being a mere luxury, Internet access should be considered a universal entitlement because it is necessary for people to be able to lead minimally decent lives. Accepting this claim transforms our conception of the Internet from a technology to that of a basic right. (shrink)

Vor wenigen Tagen hat das Hamburger Kabarett-Theater Schmidts Tivoli die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Komiker Kay Ray beendet, offenbar weil rassistische Witze in der Show einen zentralen Platz einnehmen. Kurz nach der Cancel-Affäre zwischen Lisa Eckhart und dem Hamburger Nochtspeicher sieht sich nun auch Ray als Opfer von „Cancel Culture“, die die Kunstfreiheit immer weiter einschränke. Um die Kunst und Kunstfreiheit geht es dabei aber eigentlich gar nicht. Sie ist nur der Austragungsort gesellschaftspolitischer Auseinandersetzungen um Sexismus, Rassismus und Transphobie. Dabei sind (...) Kunstfreiheit und Meinungsfreiheit zentrale Argumente – oder besser: Waffen – des konservativen politischen Projekts geworden, mit dem emanzipative Änderungen abgewehrt werden (s. auch Schubert, in: Leviathan, 48 (1), S. 29–51). Dieser machtpolitische Missbrauch muss klar von der grundrechtlichen Dimension unterschieden werden. Dafür ist zwischen drei Ebenen Kunstfreiheit zu differenzieren: im nichtstaatlichen, parastaatlichen und staatlichen Bereich. Die Neuregelungen von Diskurs, Kultur und Kunst durch „Politische Korrektheit“, „Cancel Culture“ oder „Identitätspolitik“ bedeuten nicht den Zerfall der Demokratie, sondern sind ein Schritt in Richtung ihrer vollständigeren Realisierung. (shrink)

Reseña del libro Claves de la Justicia desde América Latina (2019).

The standard view of academic freedom and free speech is that they play complementary roles in universities. Academic freedom protects academic discourse, while other public discourse in universities is protected by free speech. Here I challenge this view, broadly, on the grounds that free speech in universities sometimes undermines academic practices. One defense of the standard view, in the face of this worry, says that campus free speech actually furthers the university’s academic aims. Another says that universities have a secondary (...) democratic function, which cannot be fulfilled without free speech on campus. I identify shortcomings in both types of arguments. (shrink)

가장 먼저 명심해야 할 점은 중국이 이것을 말한다면, 우리는 중국 인민에 대해 말하는 것이 아니라 중국 공산당을 통제하는 사회병리학자들, 즉 중국 공산당의 7대 노인사회병연쇄살인범(SSSSK)이나 공산당 상무위원 25명 등이다. 중국 정부의 제3차 세계대전과 총체적 지배에 대한 중국 공산당의 계획은 중국 정부의 출판물과 연설에서 아주 분명하게 드러나며 이는 시진핑의 '중국의 꿈'이다. 중국을 지배하는 소수 민족(아마도 수십~수백 명)과 다른 모든 사람들에게 는 악몽(14억 중국인 포함)의 꿈입니다. 매년 100억 달러를 통해 그들 또는 인형은 신문, 잡지, TV 및 라디오 채널을 소유하거나 제어하고 매일 대부분의 주요 (...) 미디어에 가짜 뉴스를 배치할 수 있습니다. 또한, 그들은 더 많은 선전을 배치하고 합법적 인 논평 (50 센트 군대)을 익사 모든 미디어를 트롤 군대 (어쩌면 수백만의 사람들)가있습니다. 자원의 3rd 세계를 제거하는 것 외에도, 수조 달러 벨트 와 도로 이니셔티브의 주요 추진력은 전 세계적으로 군사 기지를 구축하고있다. 그들은 소련과의 냉전을 피크닉처럼 보이게 하는 거대한 첨단 무기 경쟁으로 자유 세계를 강요하고 있습니다. SSSSK, 그리고 세계의 나머지 군대는 고급 하드웨어에 엄청난 금액을 지출하고 있지만, 그것은 WW3 (또는 그에 이르는 작은 계약)가 소프트웨어가 지배 될 가능성이 높습니다. 그것은 SSSSK, 아마 더 많은 해커와 함께 (코더) 다음 결합 세계의 모든 나머지, 단지 그물을 통해 적을 마비하여, 최소한의 물리적 충돌로 미래의 전쟁을 이길 것입니다. 위성, 전화, 통신, 금융 거래, 전력망, 인터넷, 고급 무기, 차량, 기차, 선박 또는 비행기가 없습니다. 중국 공산당을 제거하고 14억 명의 중국 포로를 석방하고 제3차 세계대전으로 의한 미치광이 행진을 끝내는 두 가지 주요 경로가 있습니다. 평화로운 것은 군대가 공급되고 중국 공산당을 퇴화할 때까지 중국 경제를 황폐화하기 위해 전격적인 무역 전쟁을 시작하는 것입니다. 중국 경제를 폐쇄하는 대안은 중국 의 20대의회에서50대의 열경화성 드론을 표적으로 삼는 것과 같은 제한된 전쟁이며, 최고 위원전원이 한 자리에 있지만 2022년까지는 연례 본회의를 열수 있을 것입니다. 중국은 공격이 일어났을 때 무기를 내려놓고 민주선거를 준비하거나 석기 시대로 들어갈 준비를 해야 한다는 통보를 받을 것이다. 다른 대안은 전지적 핵 공격입니다. 중국공산당의 현재 진로를 감안할 때 군사적 대결은 불가피하다. 수십 년 내에 남중국해 나 대만의 섬에서 일어날 가능성이 있지만 전 세계적으로 군사 기지를 세우면 어디서나 발생할 수 있습니다 (웅크리고있는 호랑이 등 참조). 미래의 갈등은 모든 군사 및 산업 통신, 장비, 발전소, 위성, 인터넷, 은행 및 인터넷에 연결된 모든 장치 또는 차량의 제어 시스템을 해킹하고 마비시켜 사이버 전쟁을 강조하는 CCP의 명시된 목표와 하드 킬 및 소프트 킬 측면을 가질 것입니다. SS는 중국의 신호를 기다리거나 미국 선박이나 비행기의 서명을 찾고 있을 수 있는 재래식 또는 핵무기를 발사할 수 있는 전 세계 유인 및 자율 표면 및 수중 잠수함 또는 드론을 서서히 수비하고 있습니다. 우리의 위성을 파괴하는 동안, 따라서 전 세계적으로 미국과 우리 군대 사이의 통신을 제거, 그들은 그들의 를 사용합니다, 대상과 현재 우수한 해군을 파괴하기 위해 드론과 함께. 물론 이 모든 작업은 AI에 의해 자동으로 수행됩니다. 지금까지 중국 공산당의 가장 큰 동맹국은 미국의민주당이다. 선택은 지금 중국 공산당을 중지하거나 전 세계에 걸쳐 중국 감옥을 확장으로 보는 것입니다. 현대 사회의 미치광이 경로에 대한 자세한 내용은 미국의 민주주의 - 부고와 세계 3rd Edition 2019 및 21st 세기의 자살 유토피아 망상:철학, 인간의 본성과 문명의 붕괴 th (2019)와 같은 내 다른 작품을 참조 할 수 있습니다. (shrink)

A predisposição genética para ajudar nossos parentes próximos ("altruísmo"), que era vital para sobreviver em nossos ancestrais nas planícies da África dezenas de milhares a dezenas de milhões de anos atrás, é um defeito fatal em um mundo superlotado onde nossos vizinhos não estão mais intimamente relacionados e estão envolvidos em uma luta de vida e morte pela sobrevivência. Eu me referi a isso como "A Única Grande Ilusão De Família Feliz" e é central para as ilusões utópicas suicidas da (...) esquerda política, que surgem devido à abundância temporária de recursos e paz relativa possibilitada pelo impiedoso estupro da terra. Visões políticas liberais que faziam sentido no passado estão trazendo o colapso das sociedades democráticas modernas e talvez da própria civilização. Embora isso seja óbvio para qualquer criança brilhante de 10 anos com acesso à rede ou mesmo tv via satélite, é totalmente opaco ao liberal/democrático/neomarxista/neofascista/terceiro supremacista mundial/20,30,40 algo googloides e iPhoners, que em breve assumirão e destruirão a prosperidade e a paz na América e no Reino Unido, e depois no mundo, ambos diretamente, e deixando-o aberto à destruição pelos Cartéis mexicanos, jihadistas islâmicos e muito acima e além de tudo, os Sete Sociopatas que governam a China. A América e o mundo estão em processo de colapso devido ao crescimento excessivo da população, a maioria no século passado, e agora tudo isso, devido ao povo do 3º mundo. O consumo de recursos e a adição de mais 2 bilhões de ca. 2100 desonram a civilização industrial e provocarão fome, doenças, violência e guerra em escala impressionante. A Terra perde pelo menos 1% de seu solo a cada ano, então, à medida que se aproxima de 2100, a maior parte de sua capacidade de cultivo de alimentos desaparecerá. Bilhões morrerão e a guerra nuclear é quase certa. Na América, isso está sendo extremamente acelerado pela imigração maciça e reprodução de imigrantes, combinado com abusos possibilitados pela democracia. A natureza humana depravada inexoravelmente transforma o sonho da democracia e da diversidade em um pesadelo de crime e pobreza. Euentendo a biologia básica e a psicologia leva aos delírios da engenharia social dos parcialmente educados que controlam as sociedades democráticas. Poucos entendem que se você ajuda uma pessoa que você machuca outra pessoa — não há almoço grátis e cada item que alguém consome destrói a terra além do reparo. Consequentemente, as políticas sociais em todos os lugares são insustentáveis e uma por uma todas as sociedades sem controles rigorosos sobre o egoísmo entrarão em colapso em anarquia ou ditadura. Os fatos mais básicos, quase nunca mencionados, são que não há recursos suficientes na América ou no mundo para tirar uma porcentagem significativa dos pobres da pobreza e mantê-los lá. A tentativa de fazer isso está faliu a América e destruindo o mundo. A capacidade da Terra de produzir alimentos diminui diariamente, assim como nossa qualidade genética. E agora, como sempre, de longe, o maior inimigo dos pobres é outros pobres e não os ricos. Sem mudanças dramáticas e imediatas, não há esperança para evitar o colapso da América, ou qualquer país que siga um sistema democrático. (shrink)

Democratic theorists have proposed a number of competing justifications for democratic order, but no theory has achieved a consensus. While expecting consensus may be unrealistic, I nonetheless contend that we can make progress in justifying democratic order by applying competing democratic theories to different stages of the democratic process. In particular, I argue that the selection of political officials should be governed in accord with aggregative democracy. This process should prize widespread participation, political equality, and proper preference aggregation. I then (...) argue that the selection of public policies by political officials should be governed in accord with deliberative democracy. This process should prize high quality deliberation and political equality. A process democracy is a democracy that joins an aggregative process for selecting officials with a deliberative process for selecting policies. Democracy is justified and legitimate when it is structured in this way. (shrink)

L’idéal démocratique est accusé d’être irréaliste. Le gouvernement du peuple par le peuple et pour le peuple serait une chimère dans les sociétés contemporaines. Il faudrait lui préférer les visées plus modestes associées à l’élection : un droit de vote égal et la satisfaction du plus grand nombre. La démocratie ne se laisse pourtant pas réduire à la compétition électorale. Les acteurs et les institutions politiques qui s’en réclament invoquent non seulement un marché, où rivalisent des intérêts privés, mais un (...) forum, où s’affrontent des visions adverses de la justice. Ils attendent de la délibération collective qu’elle serve l’autonomie politique et le bien commun, mais savent aussi qu’elle peut les menacer, lorsque la liberté, l’égalité ou la publicité lui font défaut. Cette enquête philosophique interroge la pertinence de l’idéal démocratique pour des sociétés complexes, dotées d’institutions représentatives et soumises à la communication de masse. Elle montre à quelles conditions cet idéal peut aujourd’hui orienter la critique et l’action. Les citoyens peuvent encore aspirer à se gouverner eux-mêmes, donc à délibérer en égaux. -/- The democratic ideal is accused of being unrealistic. Government of the people by the people and for the people would be a chimera in contemporary societies. The more modest aims associated with election should be preferred: equal suffrage and the satisfaction of the greatest number. But democracy cannot be reduced to electoral competition. The political actors and institutions that claim it invoke not only a market, where private interests compete, but also a forum, where opposing visions of justice confront each other. They expect collective deliberation to serve political autonomy and the common good, but they also know that it can threaten them when it lacks freedom, equality or publicity. This philosophical inquiry questions the relevance of the democratic ideal for complex societies with representative institutions and subject to mass communication. It shows under what conditions a deliberative understanding of this ideal can today orient criticism and action. Citizens can still aspire to govern themselves, hence to deliberate as equals. (shrink)

This essay presents two strategies for a more democratic future. A debate is underway in continental philosophy between two different types of democratic activity or strategy. The first form of democratic activity, “constituent” power, is widely known for its attempts to confront existing government institutions and transform them in a variety of ways. A second form of political activity, however, labeled “destituent” power, proposes abandoning the constituent project of reforming government institutions in order to explore another form of politics entirely. (...) The concept of destituent power arises in part out of a concern that it is increasingly difficult to reform governments through protest and assembly and other means, particularly in the wake of several military–style defeats of peaceful demonstrations and occupations around the world. Instead of focusing on reforming these institutions by contesting them, destituent power “destitutes” them by withdrawing from them and dispelling the notion that they represent us. Finally, destituent power specifically targets a neoliberal way of life and asks how we might live otherwise. (shrink)

Many religious freedom laws provide exemptions to persons who refuse to comply with certain laws on religious grounds. But these exemptions are increasingly used (by claimants and others) to advance political goals. For example, religious freedom lawsuits helped to undermine the Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of coverage for contraceptives. And the recent Masterpiece Cakeshop case was part of a broader effort to protest the right to same-sex marriage. This paper argues that the state should not grant religious exemptions when they (...) are used to advance political goals. A religious exemption creates a legal inequality between citizens that can only be justified if the protection is not used politically. As such, the state should ensure that laws providing religious exemptions are written, interpreted, and enforced so as to prevent their political misuse. (shrink)

In Democracy and Tradition, Jeffrey Stout asks Christian political theologians if they can discern God's activity in modern democratic cultures. In so doing they might "acknowledge the sovereignty of God while transcending both resentment of, and absorption into, the secular." As Stout recognizes, the question of sovereignty is relevant not only to Christian, but also Jewish and Islamic thought. However, interreligious comparisons remain undeveloped in his work. In response, the following essay coordinates Stout’s pragmatism with developments in comparative theology. It (...) then evaluates both the Jewish messianism of Gershom Scholem alongside Islamic sovereignty (hakimayyah) in the thought of Sayyid Qutb. While their viewpoints differ in considerable respects, they nonetheless provide key test cases for Stout’s questions concerning divine sovereignty. In sum, the paper opens new avenues for religious deliberations in democratic traditions. (shrink)

Америка и мир находятся в процессе краха от чрезмерного роста населения, большинство из них за последнее столетие, и теперь все это, из-за третьего мира людей. Потребление ресурсов и добавление еще 4 миллиардов, около 2100 года, обрушит индустриальную цивилизацию и приведет к голоду, болезням, насилию и войне в ошеломляющих масштабах. Земля теряет по крайней мере 1% своего верхнего слоя почвы каждый год, так как она приближается к 2100, большая часть его потенциала выращивания продуктов питания исчезнет. Миллиарды погибнут, и ядерная война почти (...) наверняка. В Америке это значительно ускоряется благодаря массовой иммиграции и воспроизводству иммигрантов в сочетании со злоупотреблениями, которые стали возможными благодаря демократии. Развратная человеческая природа неумолимо превращает мечту о демократии и разнообразии в кошмар преступности и нищеты. Китай будет продолжать подавлять Америку и весь мир, пока он поддерживает диктатуру, которая ограничивает эгоизм. Коренной причиной краха является неспособность нашей врожденной психологии адаптироваться к современному миру, что заставляет людей относиться к неродственным людям так, как будто у них были общие интересы. Идея прав человека является злой фантазией, пропагандируемой левыми, чтобы отвлечь внимание от беспощадного разрушения земли безудержным 3-м мировым материнством. Это, а также незнание базовой биологии и психологии, приводит к заблуждению социальной инженерии частично образованных, которые контролируют демократические общества. Немногие понимают, что если вы помогаете одному человеку, вы вредите кому-то другому – нет бесплатного обеда, и каждый предмет, который кто-то потребляет, разрушает землю не подлежит ремонту. Следовательно, социальная политика во всем мире является неустойчивой, и один за одним все общества без строгого контроля над эгоизмом рухнет в анархию или диктатуру. Самые основные факты, почти никогда не упоминаемые, таковы, что в Америке или мире не хватает ресурсов для того, чтобы вывести значительную часть бедного населения из нищеты и удержать их там. Попытка сделать это обанкротила Америку и разрушила мир. Способность Земли производить пищу уменьшается с каждым днем, как и наше генетическое качество. И теперь, как всегда, самым большим врагом бедных являются другие бедные, а не богатые. Без драматических и немедленных изменений нет надежды на предотвращение распада Америки или любой страны, которая следует демократической системе. (shrink)

This article criticizes radical labor republicanism on republican grounds. I show that its demand for universal workplace democracy via workers’ cooperatives conflicts with republican freedom along three different dimensions: first, freedom to choose an occupation…and not to choose one; second, freedom within the very cooperatives that workers are to democratically govern; and third, freedom within the newly proletarian state. In the conclusion, I ask whether these criticisms apply, at least in part, to the more modest, incrementalist strand of labor republicanism. (...) To the extent that they do, delaboring republicanism might be the best response. (shrink)

Engaging citizens in science projects has a number of epistemic benefits in terms of improving scientific out- comes and adjusting research to develop innovative solu- tions that are likelier to be used. Yet the emphasis on the epistemic benefits of citizen science projects and its risks, such as exploitation and a lack of benefit-sharing, a fail- ure to sufficiently inform participants of possible hazards and privacy issues, and unacknowledged authorship, which we can find in Wiggins and Wilbanks (2019), should not (...) shift to the background important justice- related interests regarding increasing participation, in particular as a prerequisite to providing the human right to participate in science (Timmermann 2014; Vayena and Tasioulas 2015). Beside the social interest in benefiting from scientific advancement—due to its major role in improving welfare—and keeping scientific practice within ethical boundaries, we need to acknowledge sci- entific participation to be very much in the interests of society. (shrink)

I argue that reliance on political testimony conflicts with two democratic values: the value of mutual justifiability and the value of equality of opportunity for political influence. Reliance on political testimony is characterized by a reliance on the assertions of others directly on a political question the citizen is asked to answer as part of a formal democratic decision procedure. Reliance on expert testimony generally, even in the context of political decision-making, does not similarly conflict with democratic values. As a (...) consequence of the argument, citizens have a pro tanto reason to rely on their own political judgment when determining their vote, and democratic societies have a reason to only ask citizens questions they are able to answer without reliance on political testimony. (shrink)

Can the internet be a public space, and eventually a public sphere? The main aim of this paper is to explore the answer to this question. First, I distinguish a public space from a public sphere. Then, I elucidate what Jean Baudrillard meant by murder of reality, specifically in the context of digital media. Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality has captured the difficulties of the internet as a communication tool, but as he is bleak on his assessments, his view also suggests (...) a picture of what it should take for the internet to become an effective public space. In that regard, I propose the idea of enlightened political discourse inspired by Jurgen Habermas as a way to bring about the potential of the internet as a public space. Finally, I identify two challenges to the internet becoming a public space, namely the problem of social media bias, and the problem of excessive government intervention. I argue that these two problems undermine any possibility of the internet being a public space, and if they are not overcome, the picture of the internet as a public sphere will always remain a farfetched possibility. (shrink)

Democracy has been widely claimed to be the best form of government there is. One reason for which is the power that it confers to the people. But what happens if the people do not have the correct knowledge to exercise that power? This is the problem of knowledge in a democracy. Every election, the electorate has the power to vote certain political candidates into office, a clear exercise of democracy, but just like any other power, this can be misused. (...) In this paper, I seek to advance a framework to guide the electorate in voting the suitable political candidates into office. I call this framework political meritocracy and lay out its components. While this framework is commonsensical, I bring out some of its political implications, which are largely counterintuitive. Then, I explore how this framework can be inculcated through formal education and what I call enlightened political discourse. While the framework of political meritocracy does not wipe out the problem of knowledge, it goes a long way towards lessening it. (shrink)

Demokratie? Haben wir gar nicht, sagen die einen. Funktioniert nicht, sagen andere. Wird untergehen, sagen dritte. Muss völlig umgekrempelt werden, sagen vierte. Wer hat recht? Das kann nur sagen, wer weiß, was Demokratie ist. Na klar, Wahlen, Bundestag und so weiter. Aber was ist Demokratie im Kern? Und vor allem: Worin liegt der Wert der Demokratie? Was muss sich ändern? Der Philosoph Roland Kipke gibt Antworten auf diese Fragen. Er räumt mit einer Fülle falscher Erwartungen auf, bringt die Demokratie auf (...) den Punkt und entwickelt Ideen für die Zukunft – schwungvoll und verständlich. Eine glasklare Darstellung und ein leidenschaftliches Plädoyer für die Demokratie. (shrink)

Genetically engineered (GE) insects, such as the GE OX513A Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, have been designed to suppress their wild-type populations so as to reduce the transmission of vector-borne diseases in humans. Apart from the ecological and epidemiological uncertainties associated with this approach, such biotechnological approaches may be used by individual governments or the global community of nations to avoid addressing the underlying structural, systemic causes of those infections... We discuss here key ethical questions raised by the use of GE mosquitoes, (...) with the aim of fostering discussion between the public, researchers, policy makers, healthcare organizations, and regulatory agencies at the local, national, and international levels. We affect that goal by outlining a procedural approach to decision-making about the use of the “biotechnology” that goes beyond “community engagement.” The protocol we advocate for entails informed deliberations and decision-making at the community level. It is designed to ensure that the voices of the marginalized and vulnerable groups that would be disproportionately affected by the decision are heard during the community-wide discussions. Moreover, we make the case that the values embedded in the risk assessment should be identified so that the community can make an informed decision about the use of GE insects. In addition, we advocate for the involvement of a variety of actors whose responsibility would be to ensure that the community has the opportunity to make an informed decision based on deliberations about the use of the “biotechnology.”. (shrink)

Existe una impresionante paradoja en la era contemporánea: de África a Europa del Este, de Asia a América Latina, cada vez más naciones adhieren a la idea de la democracia; pero lo hacen justo en el momento en que la eficacia misma de la democracia como forma de organización a nivel nacional es puesta en tela de juicio de manera manifiesta. Mientras que importantes áreas de la actividad humana son organizadas progresivamente a nivel (macro) regional o global, el destino de (...) la democracia, y de un Estado-nación independiente, tiene que enfrentar notables desafíos. -/- Páginas: 136 Peso: 400 gramos ISBN: 9875748900 . (shrink)

It is possible that, as you read this, there is someone out there standing in for you, speaking in your voice, acting in your stead, making agreements on your behalf, or conceding a point you might not have wanted them to. They are not your congressperson, your lawyer, or your spouse—nor anyone else authorized by means of a formal, corporately organized election or selection procedure. There is another sort of representative out there, someone you did not elect, someone you perhaps (...) would not elect, of whom you may never have heard, speaking or acting on your behalf right now—they are an informal political representative. -/- Formal political representation is a familiar topic within democratic theory. Much less discussed, though no less widespread, is informal political representation: a practice in which a person speaks or acts for a group before an audience, despite never having been elected or selected to do so by means of a corporately organized election or selection procedure. Informal political representation is an everyday feature of our public communicative landscape. It is woven taut into the fabric of our political lives. Malala Yousafzai claims: “I speak not for myself, but so those without a voice can be heard.” U2 frontman Bono claims to “represent a lot of people who have no voice at all.” President Trump, before his nomination, was said “to give a voice to those who have long felt silenced." -/- The informal representative, though neither elected nor selected, is ubiquitous and politically influential. They increase the visibility of marginalized and oppressed groups, give voice to interests not adequately expressed in formal political fora, influence public discourse, and serve as conduits between the represented and policymakers. They can, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., did in Montgomery, negotiate on a group’s behalf. But so far, few have attempted to provide a theory of this phenomenon that gives full attention to both its conceptual and normative foundations. My dissertation provides a theory of informal political representation that does not treat the phenomenon as a mere deviant case of formal political representation, but rather takes informal political representation on its own terms. -/- Committee: Tommie Shelby (chair), Tim Scanlon, Dick Moran, Eric Beerbohm. (shrink)

One of the most cult sci-fi series in the world, Star Trek (1966) show to public a new and singular sociopolitical conception, very singular to their time of exhibition (the cold war), but not exactly at time show in their episodes, including the five derivatives series (2063 and forward). This new sociopolitical view, do not exclude confrontations and do not abolished laws, - in fact created a few more very interesting – nevertheless this new conception was considered as utopia. This (...) works is an investigative way to know if this new order is a democracy, and investigate the viability of the “utopia”, using for it the canon of the series. (shrink)

In this paper I defend a form of epistocracy I call limited epistocracy— rule by institutions housing expertise in non-political areas that become politically relevant. This kind of limited epistocracy, I argue, isn’t a far-off fiction. With increasing frequency, governments are outsourcing political power to expert institutions to solve urgent, multidimensional problems because they outperform ordinary democratic decision-making. I consider the objection that limited epistocracy, while more effective than its competitors, lacks a fundamental intrinsic value that its competitors have; namely, (...) political inclusion. After explaining this challenge, I suggest that limited epistocracies can be made compatible with robust political inclusion if specialized institutions are confined to issuing directives that give citizens multiple actionable options. I explain how this safeguards citizens’ inclusion through rational deliberation, choice, and contestation. (shrink)

This paper explores ethical issues raised by quadratic voting. We compare quadratic voting to majority voting from two ethical perspectives: the perspective of utilitarianism and that of democratic theory. From a utilitarian standpoint, the comparison is ambiguous: if voter preferences are independent of wealth, then quadratic voting out- performs majority voting, but if voter preferences are polarized by wealth, then majority voting may be superior. From the standpoint of democratic theory, we argue that assess- ments in terms of efficiency are (...) too narrow. Voting institutions and political institutions more generally face a legitimacy requirement. We argue that in the presence of inequalities of wealth, any vote buying mechanism, including quadratic voting, will have a difficult time meeting this requirement. (shrink)

Democracies have a problem with expertise. Expert knowledge both mediates and facilitates public apprehension of problems, yet it also threatens to exclude the public from consequential judgments and decisions located in technical domains. This book asks: how can we have inclusion without collapsing the very concept of expertise? How can public judgment be engaged in expert practices in a way that does not reduce to populism? Drawing on deliberative democratic theory and social studies of science, Critical Elitism argues that expert (...) authority depends ultimately on the exercise of public judgment in a context in which there are live possibilities for protest, opposition and scrutiny. This account points to new ways of looking at the role of civil society, expert institutions, and democratic innovations in the constitution of expert authority within democratic systems. Using the example of climate science, Critical Elitism highlights not only the risks but also the benefits of contesting expertise. (shrink)

Iris Marion Young (1949-2006), originaria di New York, è considerata una delle voci più importanti della recente filosofia politica, sociale e di genere. A partire dal 1990 Young ha sviluppato un modello di democrazia denominato deep democracy, nel quale interagiscono apporti provenienti dalla teoria critica, dalle politiche dell'identità e della differenza, dalla fenomenologia e dalle teorie dell'intersoggettività; esso mira a rendere più profonde e complete l'inclusione sociale, la partecipazione collettiva e le basi di parità dei cittadini sia rispetto a quanto (...) vediamo nelle odierne democrazie reali, sia in relazione al paradigma classico della democrazia deliberativa. Obiettivo di questo volume è una ricostruzione critica del modello della deep democracy, volta a metterne in luce i molti punti di forza (non da ultimo in relazione ai problemi delle democrazie contemporanee), ma anche a notarne aporie e aspetti problematici, avanzando proposte di soluzione. (shrink)

Local opposition to infrastructure projects implementing renewable energy (RE) such as wind farms is often strong even if state-wide support for RE is strikingly high. The slogan “Not In My BackYard” (NIMBY) has become synonymous for this kind of protest. This paper revisits the question of what is wrong with NIMBYs about RE projects and how to best address them. I will argue that local opponents to wind farm (and other RE) developments do not necessarily fail to contribute their fair (...) share to producing a desirable public good (clean energy). In fact, with landscape concerns being at the heart of much protest, the question of fair burden distribution becomes sidelined: landscape impacts cannot be distributed nor compensated for. Protests may be attempts to express a true conflict of (incommensurable) values. Understanding them as such will help us better address NIMBY concerns and overcome such opposition through ensuring procedural justice. (shrink)

Los editores de la revista han planteado dos preguntas: ¿Están los ciudadanos en condiciones de incorporar el espíritu científico en sus deliberaciones públicas? ¿Es esto requisito necesario para la democracia? Así, este artículo pretende ofrecer una respuesta que va más allá de tales preguntas.

Both vote buying and tax-cut promises are attempts to manipulate voters through cash incentives in order to win elections, but only vote buying is illegal. Should we extend the ban on vote buying to tax-cut promises? This article will argue for three conclusions. The first is that tax-cut promises should be understood as a form of vote buying. The second is that campaign promises are a form of vote buying. The third conclusion is that campaign promises, including tax-cut promises, should (...) not be banned. An important distinction is drawn between enforceable wrongful incentives and unenforceable wrongful incentives. The difference between vote buying and tax-cut promises is not wrongfulness but enforceability. (shrink)

The paper focuses on the “spillover thesis” which constitutes a pillar of much of contemporary participatory democratic theory; specifically, we assess the claim that workplace democratization leads to a higher degree of political participation amongst labourers. The paper analyses the thesis as formulated by Carole Pateman, including its later revisions triggered by ambiguous results of empirical studies aiming to (dis)prove it. The spillover thesis is then confronted with important methodological and theoretical critiques, the upshot being that in order to be (...) able to arrive at determinate conclusions, more carefully designed empirical studies are needed. Normatively speaking, however, blame can always be laid on the wider environment of market economy and/or representative democracy, to the effect that the spillover thesis is both difficult to disprove and radically subversive. Given the recent dominance of deliberative democratic theory which incorporates a strong participatory element, we finally discuss whether a recent innovation – namely, the concept of deliberative systems – could be fruitfully employed as a flexible umbrella-type framework for the spillover thesis and the participatory ideals related to it. (shrink)