| Bringing
together new work from many of the leading experts on democratic citizenship,
this volume presents both normative argument and empirical analysis
to help deepen our understanding of the various competences that citizens
require if there is to be a flourishing democratic political order
in our present age.
The essays explore the following themes: (1) the essential components
of democratic citizenship and how these can be fostered; (2) the
state of citizen competence in various democratic regimes; (3) civil
society as a crucial site for the exercise and development of democratic
citizenship; (4) new findings that show democratic citizens to have
more political information and behave more rationally than hitherto
supposed; and (5) the theory and practice of new institutional forms
for democratic deliberation and democratic control.
The final section of the book explores new and revitalized forms
of democratic participation as well as the kind of participation
that is likely to foster a wide variety of citizen competences.
The discussion runs from what we know and can expect from town meetings,
to the value of public work in fostering a democratic citizenry,
to entirely new forms for expressing citizen judgment.
The contributors are Benjamin Barber, Harry C. Boyte, Frank M. Bryan,
Michael A. Dimock, Stephen L. Elkin, James S. Fishkin, Norman Frohlich,
John Gaventa, Elizabeth R. Gerber, Alan Kay, Robert E. Lane, Arthur
Lupia, Jane Mansbridge, Joe A. Oppenheimer, Benjamin Page, Samuel
L. Popkin, Nancy Rosenblum, Robert Shapiro, Karol Edward Soltan,
Marion Smiley, and David Steiner.
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