People-powered democracy?
| Date | 22 September 2019 |
| Author | Runswick, Alexandra |
Tony Wright and Andrew Gamble (eds), Rethinking democracy, Wiley-Blackwell, London 2018
Rethinking Democracy is a collection of essays that reflects the anxiety and uncertainty of our times. In her chapter, Helen Margetts draws on the responses associated with the five stages of grief to assess attitudes to social media and democracy, and these varying responses in some ways encapsulate the book as a whole. While denial and anger can be interesting and powerful, it is the chapters dealing with acceptance, and an exploration of where we go from here--or in Margetts's case the research needed in order to know where to go from here --that are the most compelling.
A missing theme in the book is the role that we, the people, have in building our democracy. The significance of any democratic reform proposal must be judged by the extent to which it empowers people and gives us agency in our democracy. Process matters. In campaigning to change our political system I don't just want a written constitution drafted by eminent lawyers. I want a citizen-led constitutional convention which enables a national conversation about the kind of country that we want to be and the values we aspire to realise. An opportunty to decide what democracy means to us.
This is also the approach I took in reviewing this book. Where are the people in the different conceptualisations of democracy it puts forward? Is there scope for power...
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting