Refiguring Democracy

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Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1351663305
Total Pages : 129 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (516 download)

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Book Synopsis Refiguring Democracy by : Ramón A. Feenstra

Download or read book Refiguring Democracy written by Ramón A. Feenstra and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-06-26 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spain has become a remarkable democratic laboratory in which millions of citizens are experimenting with new forms of political expression. This book examines the dynamics of this political laboratory, showing that the upheavals it is experiencing are likely in the near future to affect democracies elsewhere in the world. Examining the new means of participation that were established in fields where digital communication tools enabled the launch of novel dynamics of political action, the reader will gain access to a comprehensive analysis of the reshaping and mutation process that has affected fields such as activism, political parties and political participation. Using a case study of the Spain between 2011 and 2015, the book focuses on the changes that have taken place in politics and communication in Spain, paying particular attention to the 15M movement and its disruptive, innovative strength in all matters related to politics and communication. The chapters cover political repertoires and the hybridization of horizontal and vertical political logics; the appearance of new political parties; the establishment of monitoring mechanisms as an essential means of political expression and participation; and the subversion of rationality across media as a product of the communication strategies implemented by online political activism. Showing that Spain is not just at the forefront of democratic innovation, but that it is a political laboratory in which trials are taking place that tell us much about the future of democracy everywhere, this book will be of great use to scholars of political theory, democracy and philosophy.

Refiguring Democracy

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351663291
Total Pages : 120 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (516 download)

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Book Synopsis Refiguring Democracy by : Ramón A. Feenstra

Download or read book Refiguring Democracy written by Ramón A. Feenstra and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-06-26 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spain has become a remarkable democratic laboratory in which millions of citizens are experimenting with new forms of political expression. This book examines the dynamics of this political laboratory, showing that the upheavals it is experiencing are likely in the near future to affect democracies elsewhere in the world. Examining the new means of participation that were established in fields where digital communication tools enabled the launch of novel dynamics of political action, the reader will gain access to a comprehensive analysis of the reshaping and mutation process that has affected fields such as activism, political parties and political participation. Using a case study of the Spain between 2011 and 2015, the book focuses on the changes that have taken place in politics and communication in Spain, paying particular attention to the 15M movement and its disruptive, innovative strength in all matters related to politics and communication. The chapters cover political repertoires and the hybridization of horizontal and vertical political logics; the appearance of new political parties; the establishment of monitoring mechanisms as an essential means of political expression and participation; and the subversion of rationality across media as a product of the communication strategies implemented by online political activism. Showing that Spain is not just at the forefront of democratic innovation, but that it is a political laboratory in which trials are taking place that tell us much about the future of democracy everywhere, this book will be of great use to scholars of political theory, democracy and philosophy.

Refiguring History

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134543034
Total Pages : 88 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (345 download)

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Book Synopsis Refiguring History by : Keith Jenkins

Download or read book Refiguring History written by Keith Jenkins and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-07-08 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this engaging sequel to Rethinking History, Keith Jenkins argues for a re-figuration of historical study. At the core of his survey lies the realization that objective and disinterested histories as well as historical 'truth' are unachievable. The past and questions about the nature of history remain interminably open to new and disobedient approaches. Jenkins reassesses conventional history in a bold fashion. His committed and radical study presents new ways of 'thinking history', a new methodology and philosophy and their impact on historical practice. This volume is written for students and teachers of history, illuminating and changing the core of their discipline.

Refiguring Spain

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Author :
Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780822319382
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (193 download)

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Book Synopsis Refiguring Spain by : Marsha Kinder

Download or read book Refiguring Spain written by Marsha Kinder and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Refiguring Spain, Marsha Kinder has gathered a collection of new essays that explore the central role played by film, television, newspapers, and art museums in redefining Spain's national/cultural identity and its position in the world economy during the post-Franco era. By emphasizing issues of historical recuperation, gender and sexuality, and the marketing of Spain's peaceful political transformation, the contributors demonstrate that Spanish cinema and other forms of Spanish media culture created new national stereotypes and strengthened the nation's place in the global market and on the global stage. These essays consider a diverse array of texts, ranging from recent films by Almodóvar, Saura, Erice, Miró, Bigas Luna, Gutiérrez Aragón, and Eloy de la Iglesia to media coverage of the 1993 elections. Francoist cinema and other popular media are examined in light of strategies used to redefine Spain's cultural identity. The importance of the documentary, the appropriation of Hollywood film, and the significance of gender and sexuality in Spanish cinema are also discussed, as is the discourse of the Spanish media star--whether involving film celebrities like Rita Hayworth and Antonio Banderas or historical figures such as Cervantes. The volume concludes with an investigation of larger issues of government policy in relation to film and media, including a discussion of the financing of Spanish cinema and an exploration of the political dynamics of regional television and art museums. Drawing on a wide range of critical discourses, including feminist, postcolonial, and queer theory, political economy, cultural history, and museum studies, Refiguring Spain is the first comprehensive anthology on Spanish cinema in the English language. Contributors. Peter Besas, Marvin D'Lugo, Selma Reuben Holo, Dona M. Kercher, Marsha Kinder, Jaume Martí-Olivella, Richard Maxwell, Hilary L. Neroni, Paul Julian Smith, Roland B. Tolentino, Stephen Tropiano, Kathleen M. Vernon, Iñaki Zabaleta

Refiguring Critical Theory

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Author :
Publisher : Upa
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Refiguring Critical Theory by : James Craig Hanks

Download or read book Refiguring Critical Theory written by James Craig Hanks and published by Upa. This book was released on 2002 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Refiguring Critical Theory offers some thoughts about the nature of democracy and the possibilities of individual and collective self-determination. The text traces theories of the relationship between being and consciousness from Marx through Lukacs and the Frankfurt School to Habermas' recent work The Theory of Communicative Action. J.Craig Hanks argues that an analysis of Habermas' work will be incomplete if we do not understand it as growing out of a tradition of radical political thinking (from Hegel through Marx and the early Critical Theorists).

Democratizing or Reconfiguring Predatory Autocracy? Myths and Realities in Africa Today

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Publisher : African Books Collective
ISBN 13 : 9956558575
Total Pages : 92 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (565 download)

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Book Synopsis Democratizing or Reconfiguring Predatory Autocracy? Myths and Realities in Africa Today by : Tatah Mentan

Download or read book Democratizing or Reconfiguring Predatory Autocracy? Myths and Realities in Africa Today written by Tatah Mentan and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2009 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The celebrations that heralded democratic change in the 1990s in Africa have gradually faded into muffled cries of anger and attendant violence of despair. Almost everywhere on the continent so-called democratic leaders are openly subverting the people's will and disregarding national constitutions. Ordinary people find themselves removed from the centres of power, marginalized and reduced to helpless and hopeless onlookers as political leaders, their friends and families noisily enjoy the spoils of impunity. From Nigeria to Zimbabwe, Kenya to the Ivory Coast and Uganda to Cameroon, the writing is on the wall. The experiment with democracy has blatantly taken a dangerous nosedive. There is a crisis of honest, committed and democratic leadership, in spite of the advancements in education and intellectualism of the populace, and despite the influences of globalization and new understandings of governance. In this brief volume, Tatah Mentan makes an incisive diagnosis of how the "security forces" brutally crush protests against bids to stay in power through corrupt electoral practices as well as how opposition voices have been hunted down and crushed or intimidated into graveyard silence. This is a clarion call for Africans to embrace the values of People Power in synch with the dictates of the current global imperatives. There is no place for visionless leadership. Africans need to raise their voices to recapture their freedom.

Power and Humility

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108425224
Total Pages : 497 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis Power and Humility by : John Keane

Download or read book Power and Humility written by John Keane and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-30 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An imaginative, radically new interpretation of the twenty-first-century fate of democracy by a distinguished scholar.

Democracy's Reconstruction

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190452102
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (94 download)

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Book Synopsis Democracy's Reconstruction by : Lawrie Balfour

Download or read book Democracy's Reconstruction written by Lawrie Balfour and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-03-16 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Democracy's Reconstruction, the latest addition to Cathy Cohen and Fredrick Harris's Transgressing Boundaries series, noted political theorist Lawrie Balfour challenges a longstanding tendency in political theory: the disciplinary division that separates political theory proper from the study of black politics. Political theory rarely engages with black political thinkers, despite the fact that the problem of racial inequality is central to the entire enterprise of American political theory. To address this lacuna, she focuses on the political thought of W.E.B. Du Bois, particularly his longstanding concern with the relationship between slavery's legacy and the prospects for democracy in the era he lived in. Balfour utilizes Du Bois as an intellectual resource, applying his method of addressing contemporary problems via the historical prism of slavery to address some of the fundamental racial divides and inequalities in contemporary America. By establishing his theoretical method to study these historical connections, she positions Du Bois's work in the political theory canon--similar to the status it already has in history, sociology, philosophy, and literature.

Next Generation Democracy

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1608194841
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (81 download)

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Book Synopsis Next Generation Democracy by : Jared Duval

Download or read book Next Generation Democracy written by Jared Duval and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-11-14 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The problems of the 21st century are of unprecedented scale. Climate change, financial instability, the housing crisis, the need for health care: all of these are political issues that could be managed with ease on a much smaller scale. But with an enormous global population, that kind of change is no longer an option. As a result, some of the large bodies we once appointed to manage macroscopic problems--such as the government--have begun to fail us. Never was this more clear than during Hurricane Katrina, when individual efforts and decentralized organizations were more efficient, swifter, and better suited to the task than, say, FEMA. But, according to the hard-charging and ambitious Jared Duval, there is good news. Accompanying the expansion of these social problems has been an explosion in information technology, and we are quickly discovering the power of collaboration. Obama's town hall meetings are just the beginning of something larger--a movement towards what he refers to as "open-source" principles. By sharing information and letting systems grow themselves, we can devise new programs that will tackle these sprawling problems. Kiva's innovative micro-lending principles are making impressive progress with huge, intractable problems like world hunger and poverty. The Open-Source Society is more than a persuasive argument, though. It is a manifesto, a narrative both personal and reportorial, and an empowering call to arms. Duval's spirit and intelligence are infectious, and his message is important.

Reconfiguring Ethiopia: The Politics of Authoritarian Reform

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134916043
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (349 download)

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Book Synopsis Reconfiguring Ethiopia: The Politics of Authoritarian Reform by : Jon Abbink

Download or read book Reconfiguring Ethiopia: The Politics of Authoritarian Reform written by Jon Abbink and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes stock of political reform in Ethiopia and the transformation of Ethiopian society since the adoption of multi-party politics and ethnic federalism in 1991. Decentralization, attempted democratization via ethno-national representation, and partial economic liberalization have reconfigured Ethiopian society and state in the past two decades. Yet, as the contributors to this volume demonstrate, ‘democracy’ in Ethiopia has not changed the authority structures and the culture of centralist decision-making of the past. The political system is tightly engineered and controlled from top to bottom by the ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Navigating between its 1991 announcements to democratise the country and its aversion to power-sharing, the EPRDF has established a de facto one-party state that enjoys considerable international support. This ruling party has embarked upon a technocratic ‘developmental state’ trajectory ostensibly aimed at ‘depoliticizing’ national policy and delegitimizing alternative courses. The contributors analyze the dynamics of authoritarian state-building, political ethnicity, electoral politics and state-society relations that have marked the Ethiopian polity since the downfall of the socialist Derg regime. Chapters on ethnic federalism, 'revolutionary democracy', opposition parties, the press, the judiciary, state-religion, and state-foreign donor relations provide the most comprehensive and thought-provoking review of contemporary Ethiopian national politics to date. This book is based on a special issue of the Journal of Eastern African Studies.

Mending Democracy

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019258099X
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)

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Book Synopsis Mending Democracy by : Carolyn M. Hendriks

Download or read book Mending Democracy written by Carolyn M. Hendriks and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fabric of democracy is threadbare in many contemporary societies. Connections that are vital to the functioning and integrity of our democratic systems are wearing thin. Citizens are increasingly disconnected — from their elected representatives, from one another in the public sphere, and from complex processes of public policy. In such disconnected times, how can we strengthen and renew our democracies? This book develops the idea of democratic mending as a way of advancing a more connective approach to democratic reform. It is informed by three rich empirical cases of connectivity in practice, as well as cutting-edge debates in deliberative democracy. The empirical cases uncover empowering and transformative modes of political engagement that are vital for democratic renewal. The diverse actors in this book are not withdrawing, resisting or seeking autonomy from conventional institutions of representative democracy but actively experimenting with ways to improve and engage with them. Through their everyday practices of democratic mending they undertake crucial systemic repair work and strengthen the integrity of our democratic fabric in ways that are yet to be fully acknowledged by scholars and practitioners of democratic reform.

Kidnapped Democracy

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Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1786613638
Total Pages : 109 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (866 download)

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Book Synopsis Kidnapped Democracy by : Ramón A. Feenstra

Download or read book Kidnapped Democracy written by Ramón A. Feenstra and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Large sections of democracy and its basic structures have recently been hijacked. By stealth, powerful elites have gradually gained control of the political sphere and transformed it to serve their own interests. The political systems of what appear to be established democracies in all corners of the world are showing signs of this takeover, which has led to widespread citizen disaffection and indignation. Kidnapped Democracy uses the metaphor of captivity to illustrate the differences and similarities between conventional kidnappings and the hijacking of a political system. The book’s nine chapters identify the kidnappers, the accomplices, the hostages, the victims and the negotiators before examining the effect of a peculiar Stockholm syndrome and, finally, reflecting on possible ways to secure the release of democracy.

Re-imagining Democracy

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Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000999424
Total Pages : 203 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Re-imagining Democracy by : Cristina Flesher Fominaya

Download or read book Re-imagining Democracy written by Cristina Flesher Fominaya and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-11-07 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary book draws on leading scholarship on one of the most influential and consequential social movements of the past decades: Spain’s 15-M movement. The volume explores the legacy, impact and outcomes of the movement, and the lessons it offers for understanding mobilization in times of crisis. The book opens with a theoretical reconsideration of the positive ways social movements can impact democracy, moving the field forward significantly. It also offers rich case studies to explore a range of areas of interest to social movement scholars. Chapters explore the biographical consequences of participation in social movements; how memories of the movement inspired new mobilizations; the reciprocal influence between the 15-M movement and feminist economics; how urban democracy was transformed by municipalism arising from the movement; how the movement generated a “Caring democracy” in the face of the Covid pandemic; and how it gave rise to a new radical democratic media ecosystem. The book explores the movement’s political economy as well as reflects on one of its unintended consequences: the rise of the penalization of counter-hegemonic protest in contemporary Spain. Although focused on a single emblematic movement, it offers significant insights and lessons for scholarship on contemporary politics and movements. Re-imagining Democracy provides a valuable resource for scholars and students interested in the challenges faced by contemporary democracies, the dynamics of social movements in times of crisis, and the profound impact of social movements on contemporary democracy. The chapters in this book were originally published as a peer-reviewed special issue of Social Movement Studies.

Local Democracy Under Siege

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Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 0814737463
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (147 download)

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Book Synopsis Local Democracy Under Siege by : Dorothy Holland

Download or read book Local Democracy Under Siege written by Dorothy Holland and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2007-02-07 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2007 Society for the Anthropology of North America (SANA) Book Award Complete List of Authors:Dorothy Holland, Donald M. Nonini, Catherine Lutz, Lesley Bartlett, Marla Frederick-McGlathery, Thaddeus C. Guldbrandsen, and Enrique G. Murillo, Jr. What is the state of democracy at the turn of the twenty-first century? To answer this question, seven scholars lived for a year in five North Carolina communities. They observed public meetings of all sorts, had informal and formal interviews with people, and listened as people conversed with each other at bus stops and barbershops, soccer games and workplaces. Their collaborative ethnography allows us to understand how diverse members of a community not just the elite think about and experience “politics” in ways that include much more than merely voting. This book illustrates how the social and economic changes of the last three decades have made some new routes to active democratic participation possible while making others more difficult. Local Democracy Under Siege suggests how we can account for the current limitations of U.S. democracy and how remedies can be created that ensure more meaningful participation by a greater range of people. Complete List of Authors (pictured) From Left to Right, bottom row: Enrique Murillo, Jr., Thaddeus Guldbrandsen, Marla Frederick-McGlathery. Top row: Dorothy Holland, Catherine Lutz, Lesley Bartlett, and Don Nonini.

Democracy Reloaded

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190099984
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Democracy Reloaded by : Cristina Flesher Fominaya

Download or read book Democracy Reloaded written by Cristina Flesher Fominaya and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-27 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Democracy Reloaded, Cristina Flesher Fominaya tells the story of one of the most influential social movements of recent times: Spain's "Indignados" or "15-M" movement that took to the streets of Spain on May 15, 2011 with the rallying cry "Real Democracy Now! We are not commodities in the hands of bankers and politicians!" Based on access to key participants in the 15-M movement and Podemos and extensive participant observation, Flesher Fominaya tells a provocative and original story of this remarkable movement, its emergence, evolution, and impact. In so doing, she argues that in times of global economic and democratic crisis, movements organized around autonomous network logics can build and sustain strong movements in the absence of formal organizations, strong professionalized leadership, and the ability to attract external resources. Further, she challenges explanations for success that rest on the mobilizing power of social media. Through in-depth analysis of the month long occupation of Madrid's Puerta del Sol, and subsequent 15-M mobilization, Democracy Reloaded shows how the experience of the protest camp revitalized pre-existing networks, forged bonds of solidarity, and gave birth to a new movement that went on to influence public debate and the political agenda, in Spain and beyond.

Decidim, a Technopolitical Network for Participatory Democracy

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031507843
Total Pages : 145 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (315 download)

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Book Synopsis Decidim, a Technopolitical Network for Participatory Democracy by : Xabier E. Barandiaran

Download or read book Decidim, a Technopolitical Network for Participatory Democracy written by Xabier E. Barandiaran and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2024-02-20 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Open Access book explains the philosophy, design principles, and community organization of Decidim and provides essential insights into how the platform works. Decidim is the world leading digital infrastructure for participatory democracy, built entirely and collaboratively as free software, and used by more than 500 institutions with over three million users worldwide. The platform allows any organization (government, association, university, NGO, neighbourhood, or cooperative) to support multitudinous processes of participatory democracy. In a context dominated by corporate-owned digital platforms, in the era of increasing social structuring via Artificial Intelligence, Decidim stands as a public or community owned platform for collective human intelligence. Yet, the project is much more than its technological features. Decidim is in itself a crossroad of the various dimensions of the networked society, a detailed practical map of its complexities and conflicts. The authors distinguish three general dimensions of the project: (1) the political - shedding light on the democratic model that Decidim promotes and its impact on public policies and organizations, (2) the technopolitical - explaining how this technology is democratically designed and managed to produce and protect certain political effects, and (3) the technical - presenting the conditions of production, operation, and success of the project. This book systematically covers those three levels in an academically sound, technologically consistent, and politically innovative manner. Serving as a useful resource and handbook for the use of Decidim, it will not only appeal to students and scholars interested in participatory and digital democracy but also to professionals, policy-makers, and a wider audience interested in learning more about the Decidim platform. This is an open access book.

Refiguring the Archive

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9401005702
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis Refiguring the Archive by : Carolyn Hamilton

Download or read book Refiguring the Archive written by Carolyn Hamilton and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Refiguring the Archive at once expresses cutting-edge debates on `the archive' in South Africa and internationally, and pushes the boundaries of those debates. It brings together prominent thinkers from a range of disciplines, mainly South Africans but a number from other countries. Traditionally archives have been seen as preserving memory and as holding the past. The contributors to this book question this orthodoxy, unfolding the ways in which archives construct, sanctify, and bury pasts. In his contribution, Jacques Derrida (an instantly recognisable name in intellectual discourse worldwide) shows how remembering can never be separated from forgetting, and argues that the archive is about the future rather than the past. Collectively the contributors demonstrate the degree to which thinking about archives is embracing new realities and new possibilities. The book expresses a confidence in claiming for archival discourse previously unentered terrains. It serves as an early manual for a time that has already begun.