Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
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From Plotke’s reflection on contemporary democratic theory we<br />
follow to Maria João Cabrita who offers a Rawlsian approach to global<br />
international democracy in The designs of global international democracy<br />
in the rawlsian realistic utopia.<br />
From these reflections we follow to considerations of democracy<br />
and hope, reflecting Laclau and Mouffe’s work. Thomas Decreus is<br />
the author of <strong>Democracy</strong>, Hope and Nihilism: On the concept of hope in the<br />
work of Laclau and Mouffe. Marco Walter presents Designing the Public<br />
Realm - a Prerequisite for Democratic Innovation.<br />
The third section of this book is concerned with <strong>Democracy</strong> in<br />
Context. From the theoretical analysis and conceptual reflection we now<br />
enter the stage where democracy is analyzed from an actual, concrete<br />
and local perspective. Opening this section is Lawrence Hamilton<br />
with a sharp article entitled Free<strong>do</strong>m, Power and Representation: Group<br />
Free<strong>do</strong>m and <strong>Democracy</strong> in South Africa. Heidi Matissonn continues the<br />
discussion of democracy in South Africa looking at the relationship<br />
between democracy and participation in Democratic Compromise or<br />
Compromising <strong>Democracy</strong>: Rethinking Participation. Gerhard Wolmarans<br />
offers Contrasting understandings of ‘democracy’ in South Africa. A descriptive<br />
and theoretical analysis , and Roseline M. Achieng’ introduces a<br />
more sociological approach to the debate with Young African Women<br />
engage the Public Sphere: a Continued Disregarded Voice.<br />
From South Africa we follow to another type of debate with<br />
Federalism, Direct <strong>Democracy</strong> and the Quality of Public Deliberation:the<br />
GMO Debate, by José Luis Egío. Joan Martinez presents Democracia<br />
Global, identidad y responsabilidad cívica de la ciudadanía. Diálogos entre<br />
Seyla Benhabib, el liberalismo comunitario y el federalismo integral del siglo<br />
XX while Iurii Mielkov and Anatoliy Tolstoukhov account for the<br />
Development of <strong>Today</strong>’s <strong>Democracy</strong>: People, Power, and Human Personality.<br />
We conclude this volume with Emanuele Bottazzi’s original reflection<br />
on State of Exception and Impasse Dynamics.<br />
We hope that this book will offer to the reader a glimpse of the<br />
many dimensions of the democratic debate, its nuances and conceptual<br />
tensions, its dilemmas and practical (im)possibilities, its promises and<br />
actual fulfillments.<br />
As organizer of the event I am grateful to David Plotke and Lawrence<br />
Hamilton for accepting the invitation and challenge to be part of this<br />
9<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
Marta Nunes da Costa