By Wietse Van Ransbeeck and Vanja Pantic Participatory Democracy Brings us Closer to Climate Action At last year’s COP26 - the United Nations Climate Change Conference - countries agreed to address coal’s role as the most polluting fossil fuel. But not before the wording was watered down from “phasing-out” to “phasing-down” coal power. Since then, the... Continue Reading →
Donald Horowitz joins the podcast to discuss the formation of constitutions in democracies. Donald is the James B. Duke Professor of Law and Political Science Emeritus at Duke University. His most recent book is Constitutional Processes and Democratic Commitment. The most beautiful thing that happened in Indonesia, by the way, which was a polarized society along... Continue Reading →
Constitutions In October 2020 Chileans made the monumental decision to rewrite their constitution. Many view this as a democratizing event despite the fact that Chile democratized in 1990 with the negotiated transition from the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Nevertheless, the transition to democracy was widely considered as incomplete at the time, because the Pinochet... Continue Reading →
Daniel Carpenter joins the podcast to describe how the petition contributed to democratization in America in the 19th Century. We discuss his new book Democracy by Petition: Popular Politics in Transformation, 1790-1870. This is the 51st episode of the podcast. The idea of a political system is not simply to be efficient. It's to have... Continue Reading →
Epistemic values determine the types of knowledge societies embrace. The shift from traditional to cosmopolitan epistemic values has important implications for democracy. The Social Value of the Intellectual The trial of Socrates captures the imagination of intellectuals, because it reflects their greatest fear. The natural identity of an intellectual relies on a radical sense of... Continue Reading →
Shari Davis explains the efforts of the Participatory Budgeting Project. Shari is the Executive Director of PBP and an Obama Fellow. Participatory budgeting is actually about connecting folks with the skills and resources to navigate and shape government. And so, for me, that is the most optimistic and the most important outcome of any... Continue Reading →
John Dryzek is among the foremost scholars of deliberative democratic theory. His book Deliberative Democracy and Beyond: Liberals, Critics, Contestations offers a strong defense of deliberative theory against rival schools of democratic theory. Justin Kempf reflects on this seminal work of deliberative democratic theory. Liberal Democracy Defined Liberal democracy is a marriage between two independent ideas... Continue Reading →
Jürgen Habermas is known for his conception of the public sphere. It is the foundation of his political theories related to democracy. The reflection below is based upon his book The Inclusion of the Other. Justin Kempf is the author. The Political Philosophy of Habermas Jürgen Habermas occupies a place somewhere between philosophy and social science.... Continue Reading →
Zizi Papacharissi discusses her book After Democracy with host Justin Kempf. Zizi has worked at the forefront on political communication in the digital age. She is a professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A transcript of the podcast is below. What Comes After Democracy Political theorist Takis Pappas has described the... Continue Reading →
Deliberative Democracy has become an important school of democratic thought and theory. James Fishkin's When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy & Public Consultation is a classic in this subfield of democracy scholarship. The article below is the reflection from Justin Kempf based on this book and some past Democracy Paradox Podcasts. A Crisis of Democracy The... Continue Reading →
