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A Genealogy of Deliberative Democracy

A Genealogy of Deliberative Democracy [This conversation with Stephen Elstub on deliberative democracy was first published in Democratic Theory.] AbstractStephen Elstub articulates that deliberative democracy, as a theory, can be seen as having gone through various distinct generations. The first generation was a period where the normative values and the justifications for deliberative democracy were […]

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Should Australia lower the voting age to 16?

Should Australia lower the voting age to 16? [I was invited by The Conversation to answer this question. I, and the other four commentators (Helen Berents, Philippa Collin, Lisa Hill, and Louise Phillips) said yes.] The Conversation: Voting is a key part of the democratic process. It allows all citizens of a certain age to […]

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Little Phil: Changing the Relationship between Philanthropy and Democracy?

Little Phil: Changing the Relationship between Philanthropy and Democracy? [This practitioner’s note first appears in Democratic Theory. I was, before running into Little Phil and its co-founder Joshua Murchie, reading into the relationship between “big philanthropy” and (usually) US-American democracy (perhaps due to the level of very wealthy people in that country and their histories […]

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Twists of Democratic Governance

Twists of Democratic Governance [This conversation was first published in the book Democratic Theorists in Conversation: Turns in Contemporary Thought.] Defining democracy Gagnon: How do you conceptualize democracy? Dryzek: First of all I should say that I do not particularly like foundational philosophical questions and I’m not very good at dealing with conceptualizing democracy at […]

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Women keep democracy’s heart beating in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe

Women keep democracy’s heart beating in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe [First published in The Conversation, and co-written with Mark Chou and Tezcan Gumus, this essay was borne from the deeply satisfying effect of a group of women, from a country maligned for its Mugabe relation, visiting various Australian parliaments and asking: where are your women, where are your […]

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The Reflexive Modernization of Democracy

The Reflexive Modernization of Democracy [Ulrich Beck was at the London School of Economics when I was visiting London in early 2012 (I had a conversation with David Held then, too). I have a memory of us finding an occasional room to use, some hot desk, and sprucing it up a bit with books in […]

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Introduction: New Democratic Theory?

New Democratic Theory? [This is the introductory chapter to my second book, Democratic Theorists in Conversation: Turns in Contemporary Thought, published in 2014 by Palgrave Macmillan. It, as the chapter title suggests, offers an inquiry into whether the field of democracy studies/democratic theory is entering new ground. This line of inquiry is the most commented […]

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Schrödinger’s Democracy

Schrödinger’s Democracy [This is chapter 4 of my first book, Evolutionary Basic Democracy, published in 2013 by Palgrave Macmillan. The name of the chapter, of course, comes from the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger. A canine friend, who I have the pleasure of caring for, is also called Schrödinger (Odie for short). I have fond memories […]

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Arguments against Evolutionary Democracy

Arguments Against Evolutionary Democracy [This is the 4th chapter to my first book Evolutionary Basic Democracy published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2013. I was visiting my parents when writing it and have sweet memories of typing from my childhood’s dining table where, decades prior, relatives had held me accountable to my vegetables and there, decades […]

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Arguments for Evolutionary Democracy

Arguments For Evolutionary Democracy [This is the third chapter from my book Evolutionary Basic Democracy (Palgrave, 2013). It offers arguments in favor of the theory that forms of democracy have independently evolved many times in this world, especially among non-humans!] Abstract: I investigate the sciences for their use of the terms ‘democracy’ and ‘democratic’. Findings […]

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