Download or read book Direct Democracy The Change Towards Holistic Politics written by Michalis Lianos and published by Michalis Lianos. This book was released on 2022-08-01 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an open manifesto for building direct democracy. It describes concrete political steps that fit the demands of the 21st century in many areas, such as democratic decision-making, random draws, electoral systems, institutions of governance, protection of minorities, avoidance of violent conflicts. The book deals with the main impasses of democracy: - How can we collectively hierarchise the political priorities over which we disagree? - How do we avoid the concentration of power and its use to the benefit of specific groups and classes? - How do we establish social justice even though we are individually oriented towards competition? - How do we handle as a society the fact that not all of us have comparable capacities and strengths? - Can a political system continuously transform itself, so as to apply the same principles in different circumstances? These major questions are addressed via an integrated proposal that seeks to move politics away from concentrations of power which obtain their own life and often turn us into resources for their purposes, i.e. break the "iron law of oligarchy". Political organisation is the key to social trust and social trust the key to a happy life. No amount of debate, competition or fighting can get us there. We need to organise and turn to our existence as simple, everyday citizens who keep at bay their hunger for power. Remaining simple is complicated, that is why we need a holistic political approach. Holistic Politics is a culture, an attitude between citizens. The term refers to examining our relations in a holistic way, i.e., as a whole; a total condition that deals in a direct democratic manner with our differences, and even our conflicts. Knowing each time that something is the genuine outcome of our collective free will, builds trust, tolerance and respect for difference, even when we disagree with that outcome. For a violent species that has dominated all others, this is the way forward.
Download or read book Direct Democracy written by Thomas E. Cronin and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans have grown increasingly restive when dissatisfied with legislation or elected officials between elections. As a result, public interest in and use of the devices created to give voters a greater direct voice in our democracy, referendum, recall, and initiative, have proliferated in recent years. Cronin has thoroughly examined the development of recall petitions, local initiatives, and referenda and interviewed those involved in the recent growth of the direct democracy movement. He finds that there are difficulties with direct democracy devices, yet he concludes that these procedures have been a lasting, and generally a positive, part of the American political landscape. - p. [vii.].
Download or read book Politics and Expertise written by Zeynep Pamuk and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-21 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new model for the relationship between science and democracy that spans policymaking, the funding and conduct of research, and our approach to new technologies Our ability to act on some of the most pressing issues of our time, from pandemics and climate change to artificial intelligence and nuclear weapons, depends on knowledge provided by scientists and other experts. Meanwhile, contemporary political life is increasingly characterized by problematic responses to expertise, with denials of science on the one hand and complaints about the ignorance of the citizenry on the other. Politics and Expertise offers a new model for the relationship between science and democracy, rooted in the ways in which scientific knowledge and the political context of its use are imperfect. Zeynep Pamuk starts from the fact that science is uncertain, incomplete, and contested, and shows how scientists’ judgments about what is significant and useful shape the agenda and framing of political decisions. The challenge, Pamuk argues, is to ensure that democracies can expose and contest the assumptions and omissions of scientists, instead of choosing between wholesale acceptance or rejection of expertise. To this end, she argues for institutions that support scientific dissent, proposes an adversarial “science court” to facilitate the public scrutiny of science, reimagines structures for funding scientific research, and provocatively suggests restricting research into dangerous new technologies. Through rigorous philosophical analysis and fascinating examples, Politics and Expertise moves the conversation beyond the dichotomy between technocracy and populism and develops a better answer for how to govern and use science democratically.
Download or read book Living in Democracy written by Rolf Gollob and published by Council of Europe. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a manual for teachers in Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) and Human Rights Education (HRE), EDC/HRE textbook editors and curriculum developers. Nine teaching units of approximately four lessons each focus on key concepts of EDC/HRE. The lesson plans give step-by-step instructions and include student handouts and background information for teachers. In this way, the manual is suited for trainees or beginners in the teaching profession and teachers who are receiving in-service teacher training in EDC/HRE. The complete manual provides a full school year's curriculum for lower secondary classes, but as each unit is also complete in itself, the manual allows great flexibility in use. The objective of EDC/HRE is the active citizen who is willing and able to participate in the democratic community. Therefore EDC/HRE strongly emphasize action and task-based learning.
Download or read book Public Policy in Action written by Victor Bekkers and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive textbook explores the policy process from a multitude of perspectives, including rationalism, culturalism, institutionalism and from a political point of view. This allows students to discover key concepts from the policy science literature and gain a deeper understanding of how public policy is discussed academically and shaped empirically.
Download or read book Communities in Action written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-04-27 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Download or read book Democracy Without Shortcuts written by Cristina Lafont and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-01-12 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book articulates a participatory conception of deliberative democracy that takes the democratic ideal of self-government seriously. It aims to improve citizens' democratic control and vindicate the value of citizens' participation against conceptions that threaten to undermine it. The book critically analyzes deep pluralist, epistocratic, and lottocratic conceptions of democracy. Their defenders propose various institutional ''shortcuts'' to help solve problems of democratic governance such as overcoming disagreements, citizens' political ignorance, or poor-quality deliberation. However, all these shortcut proposals require citizens to blindly defer to actors over whose decisions they cannot exercise control. Implementing such proposals would therefore undermine democracy. Moreover, it seems naive to assume that a community can reach better outcomes 'faster' if it bypasses the beliefs and attitudes of its citizens. Unfortunately, there are no 'shortcuts' to make a community better than its members. The only road to better outcomes is the long, participatory road that is taken when citizens forge a collective will by changing one another's hearts and minds. However difficult the process of justifying political decisions to one another may be, skipping it cannot get us any closer to the democratic ideal. Starting from this conviction, the book defends a conception of democracy ''without shortcuts''. This conception sheds new light on long-standing debates about the proper scope of public reason, the role of religion in politics, and the democratic legitimacy of judicial review. It also proposes new ways to unleash the democratic potential of institutional innovations such as deliberative minipublics.
Download or read book Germany Since 1945 written by Peter C. Caldwell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-08-09 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter C. Caldwell and Karrin Hanshew's Germany Since 1945 traces the social, political and cultural history of Germany from the end of the Second World War right up to the present day. The book provides a narrative that not only explores the histories of East and West Germany in their international contexts, but one that also takes the significantly different world of the Berlin Republic seriously, analyzing it as a distinct and significant period of German history in its own right. Split into three parts roughly devoted to a quarter-century each, this book guides students through contemporary Germany from the catastrophe of war, genocide and the country's division to the very different challenges facing the reunified Germany of the 21st century. There are key primary source excerpts integrated throughout the text, as well as 32 images, numerous maps, charts and tables and a detailed bibliography to further aid study. The book is complemented by online resources which include sample syllabi and a pedagogical supplement. Germany Since 1945 underscores both the particularities of German history and the international trends and transactions that shaped it, giving good coverage to key aspects of post-1945 German society and politics, including: * East and West German paths to reconstruction * The development of consumer society and the welfare state * The politics of memory and coming to terms with the Nazi past * The Cold War * New social and political movements that opposed the postwar status * Immigration and the move toward a multicultural society This is an essential text for any student of contemporary German history.
Download or read book Measuring Democracy written by Gerardo L. Munck and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2009-04-15 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on years of academic research on democracy and measurement and practical experience evaluating democratic practices for the United Nations and the Organization of American States, the author presents constructive assessment of the methods used to measure democracies that promises to bring order to the debate in academia and in practice. He makes the case for reassessing how democracy is measured and encourages fundamental changes in methodology. He has developed two instruments for quantifying and qualifying democracy: the UN Development Programme's Electoral Democracy Index and a case-by-case election monitoring tool used by the OAS.
Download or read book The Science Studies Reader written by Mario Biagioli and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Governing in the Round written by and published by Demos. This book was released on 1999 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this report, the authors set out the principal lessons that government can learn from early experiences of holistic working. They identifiy the real achievements and key problems that have emerged in turning theory into practice, and explain how public managers can develop strategies for holistic working and integration." -- Back cover.
Download or read book My Revision Notes Edexcel A level Politics Political Ideas written by Neil McNaughton and published by Hodder Education. This book was released on 2018-02-26 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exam board: Edexcel Level: A-level Subject: Politics First teaching: September 2017 First exams: Summer 2018 Target success in politics with this proven formula for effective, structured revision; key content coverage is combined with exam-style tasks and practical tips to create a revision guide that students can rely on to review, strengthen and test their knowledge. With My Revision Notes, every student can: - Plan and manage a successful revision programme using the topic-by-topic planner - Consolidate subject knowledge by working through clear and focused content coverage - Test understanding and identify areas for improvement with regular 'Now Test Yourself' tasks and answers - Improve exam technique through practice questions, expert tips and examples of typical mistakes to avoid - Get exam ready with extra quick quizzes and answers to the practice questions available online
Download or read book The Foundations and Traditions of Constitutional Amendment written by Richard Albert and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-07-13 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is growing interest in constitutional amendment from a comparative perspective. Comparative constitutional amendment is the study of how constitutions change through formal and informal means, including alteration, revision, evolution, interpretation, replacement and revolution. The field invites scholars to draw insights about constitutional change across borders and cultures, to uncover the motivations behind constitutional change, to theorise best practices, and to identify the theoretical underpinnings of constitutional change. This volume is designed to guide the emergence of comparative constitutional amendment as a distinct field of study in public law. Much of the recent scholarship in the field has been written by the scholars assembled in this volume. This book, like the field it hopes to shape, is not comparative alone; it is also doctrinal, historical and theoretical, and therefore offers a multiplicity of perspectives on a subject about which much remains to be written. This book aspires to be the first to address comprehensively the new dimensions of the study of constitutional amendment, and will become a reference point for all scholars working on the subject. The volume covers all of the topics where innovative work is being done, such as the notion of the people, the trend of empirical quantitative approaches to constitutional change, unamendability, sunrise clauses, constitutional referenda, the conventional divide between constituent and constituted powers, among other important subjects. It creates a dialogue that cuts through these innovative conceptualisations and highlights scholarly disagreement and, in so doing, puts ideas to the test. The volume therefore captures the fierce ongoing debates on the relevant topics, it reveals the current trends and contested issues, and it offers a variety of arguments elaborated by prominent experts in the field. It will open the way for further dialogue.
Download or read book Politics in the Republic of Ireland written by John Coakley and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2010 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Politics in the Republic of Ireland is now available in a fully revised fifth edition. Building on the success of the previous four editions, it continues to provide an authoritative introduction to all aspects of politics in the Republic of Ireland. Written by some of the foremost experts on Irish politics, it explains, analyzes and interprets the background to Irish government and contemporary political processes. Bringing students up to date with the very latest developments, Coakley and Gallagher combine real substance with a highly readable style, providing an accessible textbook that meets the needs of all those who are interested in knowing how politics and government operate in Ireland.
Download or read book The Politics of Sufficiency written by Uwe Schneidewind and published by Uit Cambridge Limited. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Growth" is the only political, economic and social goal recognized today. But it brings us up against the ecological limits of the planet - and against the increasingly widespread recognition of the fact that material wealth alone cannot make us happy. For this reason, ever growing numbers of people are seeking and discovering alternative and sustainable ways of living. This is to be welcomed, but it is not enough. We need a politics of sufficiency that will make it easier to live with fewer resources but with stronger relationships. This book outlines the political framework and policy guidelines that will enable us to reduce the speed, complexity, clutter and commercialization currently blighting our lives. And it demonstrates what that would mean in practice for where we live, how we get around, and how we eat, work and learn.
Download or read book What Kind of Citizen written by Joel Westheimer and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2024 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "What kind of citizen is no ordinary education book. By drawing on accessible and engaging discussions around the goals of schooling, it is imminently readable by a broad public. Neither fluff nor polemic, the theory and practice described in the book are based in solid empirical research and come out of the most influential frameworks for citizenship and democratic education of the last several decades (the "Three Kinds of Citizens" framework that emerged from collaboration between the author and Dr. Joseph Kahne as well as consultations with thousands of school teachers and civic leaders.) - This framework has been used in 67 countries to help teachers and school reformers think about how to structure educational programs and how schools can strengthen democratic societies. - This book pulls together a decade of research on schools into one place giving the reader a comprehensive look at why schools should be at the forefront of public engagement and how we can make that happen"--
Download or read book Democratic Transitions in the Arab World written by Ibrahim Elbadawi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-05 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cross-country examination of authoritarianism and democracy in North Africa and the Middle East.
