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The
New State Group Organization the Solution of Popular Government
Mary Parker Follett
Fall 1998 |
6 x 9 inches | 432 pages
Political Philosophy, Political Theory, American Politics
Hardback: $69.00 SH
ISBN: 978-0-271-01825-6
Paperback: $28.00 SH
ISBN: 978-0-271-03023-4
Having
organized neighborhood discussion groups before World War I, Follett
traces the dynamics she noticed in these forums and develops some
core concepts useful for those working on questions of public deliberation
today. She also shows how deliberation informs debates that raged
in political theory during her own era. She discusses the works of
pluralists (Harold Laski), idealists (T. H. Green and Bernard Bosanquet),
and pragmatists (William James) and makes important arguments about
the relationship between socialism and democracy. Her work is marked
by rigorous thinking about the implications of democratic principles
as they relate to political and socioeconomic organization.
This book articulates the formation of a "new state"
growing out of the local activities of citizens and renews the American
idea of "federalism" in order to balance local activities and national
purposes. By doing this, Follett leaves us with a pathbreaking work
that demands more attention today. With preliminary essays by Benjamin
Barber and Jane Mansbridge, plus a historical introduction provided
by Kevin Mattson, this reissued edition will be of use to scholars
and activists who are currently working on issues of democratic
participation, civic education, and public deliberation.
Known
mostly for her pioneering work in managerial theory, Mary Parker
Follett (1868-1933) was also an astute political theorist. In The New State (1918), she wrote a classic work in democratic
political theory. Her vision of citizens gathering into neighborhood
centers and engaging incivic dialogue continues to inform recent
calls to strengthen American democracy from below. Next to John
Dewey's The Public and Its Problems (1927), The New
State stands as one of the most important political worksthat
grew out of the Progressive Era in American history.
Benjamin R. Barber holds the Walt Whitman Chair of Political
Science at Rutgers University and is Director of the Walt Whitman
Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy there.
Jane
Mansbridge is Professor of Government at Harvard University.
Kevin
Mattson is Director of Research at the Walt Whitman Center
and author of Creating a Democratic Public: The Struggle for
Urban Participatory Democracy During the Progressive Era (Penn
State, 1998).
