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A Lesson in Democracy ... From Slime Moulds

Short essay applying the theory of non-human democracy to slime mould.

A Lesson in Democracy…from Slime Moulds Originally published by The Crick Centre and republished by The Policy Space, 16 December 2015. [This short essay concerns the first type of life that I began investigating with the theory of non-human democracy which posits, in short, that democracy is not solely a human invention/discovery, that it does […]

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Huron Socialism: A New Political System

Huron Socialism: A New Political System Originally published by AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 8(2), 2012, Pp. 115-127. [There was, aside from intellectual curiosity, a personal reason for writing this essay—my family has historic ties to one of the Huron clans that came to settle in Wendake, Québec, after they lost the “Beaver […]

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Gaddafi and Libya – a case for just intervention?

Full militaristic intervention cannot be justified on the grounds that this is a ‘just war’. We are then left with the option to intervene militarily in a smaller way or not to intervene militarily at all.

Gaddafi and Libya – a case for just intervention? Originally published by openDemocracy, April 1, 2011. [This short essay was borne out of an urge to “speak out of” the expression of international democracy that I saw happening in how many people, around the world, were relating to Libyans and vice versa during their moment […]

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Globalizing the Intellectual History of Democracy

Professor Samuel Moyn (Yale) and Jean-Paul Gagnon (Canberra) in conversation.

Globalizing the Intellectual History of Democracy Originally published by Democratic Theory, 7(1), Summer 2020. Pp. 99-107. [The drive for this conversation, with Professor Samuel Moyn, came in most part out of a trend I had been observing in the democratic theory literature. There is a double dynamic at play, particularly over the last 15 or […]

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Democratic Theory and Theoretical Physics

Democratic Theory and Theoretical Physics Originally published by the Taiwan Journal of Democracy, 6(2), 2010. Pp. 1-22. [This journal article was written in the end game of the doctoral thesis I was, at the time, writing whilst an intern at the International Labour Organization in Geneva and, later, at my doctoral alma mater the Queensland […]

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An Intervention on ‘Democracy’ as a Term in Empirical Political Analysis

An Intervention on ‘Democracy’ as a Term in Empirical Political Analysis Originally published by Public Administration and Policy, 15(2), 2012, Pp. 68-92. [A Sartorian gripe, this was. I challenge anyone who has read both Sartori’s early book Democratic Theory (translation of his Democrazia e Definizione) but also both parts to his 1987 book The Theory […]

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A right royal rip-off – how much should Commonwealth nations pay for the Queen’s Jubilee?

A right royal rip-off – how much should Commonwealth nations pay for the Queen’s Jubilee? Originally published by The Conversation, February 7, 2012. [This short essay actually resulted from a heated debate during a dinner with my family. One member, to remain nameless, is a staunch monarchist. The rest, sensible, gracious, (of course in my eyes), democrats with […]

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A Potential Demarcation Between “Old” and “New” Democratic Theory?

An Attempt at Positioning a Segment of the Extant Literature

A Potential Demarcation Between “Old” and “New” Democratic Theory?: An Attempt at Positioning a Segment of the ExtantLiterature Originally published by Social Alternatives, 30(3), 2011, Pp. 5-9. [I wrote this for a special issue that cultural sociologist, and old friend, Nicholas Osbaldiston proposed. The piece was inspired by John Keane’s Life and Death of Democracy, […]

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A New Analytic Tool

A New Analytic Tool Originally published as the Introduction of Evolutionary Basic Democracy: ACritical Overture, 2013, Pp. 1-14. [I am now in the process of writing my fourth book, Democracy’s Linguistic Artefacts: The Future Science, and can’t help, after reading this first book of mine again, to feel that it is very much a young […]

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Constitutional Legitimacy: an International Ill and Gap in the Literature?

Constitutional Legitimacy: an International Ill and Gap in the Literature? Originally published February 25, 2011, by the Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (online April 1, 2014). [This short essay is now, thankfully, due for an update. Advances in the academic literature on constitutions and their democratic legitimacy but also the uptake of democratic innovations […]

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