From two-track to tessellation: a revised circulation of power model
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-08-2021-0161 |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| Pages | 1389-1419 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Michael M. Widdersheim |
From two-track to tessellation:
a revised circulation
of power model
Michael M. Widdersheim
School of Library and Information Management, Emporia State University,
Emporia, Kansas, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this project is to test and, if necessary, refine a model of the public sphere known as
the circulation of power model. The model faces several criticisms and was applied in a case study only once. It
has not yet been applied to an American context.
Design/methodology/approach –This study uses the circulation of power model as a framework in a
historical case study of a regional public library system in the United States. The temporal boundaries of the
case are from 1924 to 2016.
Findings –This study resulted in a new and modified model called the tessellation model.New concepts in the
tessellation model include circuits, tessellations, formal decisions and decision cycles. New distinctions in the
model include narrowcast/broadcast and coalesced public/diffuse public.
Research limitations/implications –The tessellation model and its associated concepts offer a new
way to describe and analyze deliberative systems over time. The model requires further testing in other
contexts.
Originality/value –The tessellation model is a new and validated way to describe the public sphere in an
American political context.
Keywords Public libraries, Public sphere, Power cycle, Historical case study, Circulation of power, Decision
cycle, Machtkreislauf, Tessellation model
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The circulation of power model assumes a communicative perspective of politics in order
to describe how political processes work. This model was developed by Habermas
(1989,1992,1996,2006,2009) and Peters (1993,2008), and it is one among several models
of the public sphere. The model recognizes two types of power: communicative and
administrative. These types of power operate within a set of concentric rings, each ring
representing different political entities. Communicative power emanates from the
periphery and flows inward to the core. There, communicative power affects decision
making and law creation. Once new laws are created, administrative power then flows
back outward to the periphery. This is simple macrosociological model is used to describe
in a normative way how deliberative democratic systems should work at a national scale.
Though seemingly intuitive, the model faces several conceptual criticisms. Moreover, the
model has been applied in an empirical study only once. Due to extant criticisms and
insufficient empirical validation, the model deserves further scrutiny in order to test and
refine it.
2. Problem statement
The circulation of power model offers an attractive and sophisticated description of political
processes, but it has not yet been sufficiently tested empirically and it faces several
outstanding criticisms. The problem is that while the model seems to get things right, it is not
yet clear if it is entirely valid.
From
two-track to
tessellation
1389
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 21 August 2021
Revised 1 February 2022
Accepted 10 February 2022
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 78 No. 6, 2022
pp. 1389-1419
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-08-2021-0161
3. Research question
The central research question for this study is, how can the circulation of power model be
used in an actual case to describe complex political phenomena? What modifications or
improvements might result from this application?
4. Research purpose
The purposeof this study isto apply the circulationof power modelto an actual case in orderto
testand refine it. The resultsof the studywill produce a newand revised modelthat is validated.
This project is significant for those who take a systemic view of deliberative democracy and for
those who wish to understand political processes through a communicative lens.
5. Literature review
5.1 The circulation of power model
Ferree et al. (2002) identify four models of the public sphere. These are representative liberal
theory, participatory liberal theory, discursive theory and constructionist theory. The discursive
theory of the public sphere is characterized by inclusion, deliberativeness, civility and mutual
respect. According to Ferree et al. (2002), the specific framework that represents the discursive
public sphere is the circulation of power model (Habermas, 1989,1992,1996;Peters, 1993).
In the circulation of power model, the public sphere is an intermediary network located
between civil society groups, economic groups and media groups, on the one hand, and the
decision-making bodies of the political system, on the other (see Figure 1). Using the public
sphere, the various groups on the political system’s periphery influence political decisions by
transmitting communicative power to the political system’s core. Their communicative
power affects the administrative power wielded by decision-making bodies at the center. The
function of the public sphere is to receive and package messages from the outer periphery and
relay them to decision-making bodies. When functioning without distortion from social
power, the public sphere ensures that collective values and interests are translated into
legislative, judicial and executive decisions.
Habermas’s circulation of powermodel has also been called the “two-track”(Johnson, 2006)
or “sluice-gate”(Downey et al.,2012) model. In the original German, the model is called the
Machtkreislauf. These differentnames refer to the same model. The model can be re-imagined
using the metaphor of a canal network organized as a single set of concentric rings. Political
issues in the form of barges arepulled uphill on the canals by communicativepower, moving
from the outer rings to the inner rings. A combination of communicative power and
administrativepower is required to “raise”issuesthrough the seriesof channels and locksuntil
the issuesare unpacked at the core,the central ring. Resultinggoods and services fromthe core
Figure 1.
The circulation of
power model
JD
78,6
1390
To continue reading
Request your trial