Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age by Benjamin R. Barber

Benjamin Barber

Benjamin R. Barber is an American political theorist and author perhaps best known for his 1996 bestseller, Jihad vs. McWorld.-Career:...

 was published by the University of California Press

University of California Press

University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...

 in 1984 and republished in a twentieth anniversary edition in 2004. A classic of democratic theory, the book argues that representative or "thin" democracy is rooted in an individualistic "rights" perspective that diminishes the role of citizens in democratic governance. The work offers a theoretical critique of representative

Representative democracy

Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...

 or liberal democracy and a foundation for participatory politics

Participatory politics

Participatory politics or parpolity is a theoretical political system proposed by Stephen R. Shalom, professor of political science at William Paterson University in New Jersey....

. The final chapter elucidates practical ways to apply the theory of strong democracy in large industrial societies.

Strong democracy is also discussed in The Local Politics of Global Sustainability by Herman Daly, Thomas Prugh and Robert Costanza (2000), and is defined as "Politics understood as the creation of a vision that can respond to and change with the changing world." The authors go on to describe strong democracy thusly:

In a strong democracy, people –citizens – govern themselves to the greatest extent possible rather than delegate their power and responsibility to representatives acting in their names. Strong democracy does not mean politics as a way of life, as an all-consuming job, game, and avocation

Avocation

An avocation is an activity that one engages in as a hobby outside one's main occupation. There are many examples of people whose professions were the ways that they made their livings, but for whom their activities outside of their workplaces were their true passions in life...

, as it is for so many professional politicians. But it does mean politics (citizenship) as a way of living: an expected element of one’s life. It is a prominent and natural role, such as that of “parent” or “neighbor”.

Background

Advocates for strengthening democratic institutions and practices in the United States were convened beginning in 2008 under the title of Strengthening Our Nation’s Democracy (SOND). The convenings brought together advocates of electoral reform

Electoral reform

Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:...

, campaign finance reform, civic engagement

Civic engagement

Civic engagement or civic participation has been defined as "Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern."-Forms:...

, deliberative democracy

Deliberative democracy

Deliberative democracy is a form of democracy in which public deliberation is central to legitimate lawmaking. It adopts elements of both consensus decision-making and majority rule. Deliberative democracy differs from traditional democratic theory in that authentic deliberation, not mere...

, open government

Open government

Open government is the governing doctrine which holds that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its broadest construction it opposes reason of state and racist considerations, which have tended to legitimize...

, civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

, collaborative governance

Collaborative governance

Collaborative governance is a process and a form of governance in which participants representing different interests are collectively empowered to make a policy decision or make recommendations to a final decision-maker who will not substantially change consensus recommendations from the...

, media reform, service and immigrant civic inclusion to identify how they could better collaborate with one another. Among the convening organizations of Strengthening Our Nation's Democracy were AmericaSpeaks, Demos, Everyday Democracy, and faculty from Harvard's Ash Center for Democratic Innovation and Governance. As a result of the convenings, the groups formed a coalition called the Campaign for Stronger Democracy.

Critique of Liberal Democracy

Barber posits that the radical individualism that underpins liberal theory and practice actually fundamentally undermines democracy. This weak democracy produces less legitimate outcomes than under a stronger democratic structure. Barber also criticizes the liberal construction of the social contract

Social contract

The social contract is an intellectual device intended to explain the appropriate relationship between individuals and their governments. Social contract arguments assert that individuals unite into political societies by a process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept...

, claiming that traditionalists influenced primarily by Hobbes view man and law as mere abstractions, which contributes to isolationism within society and a series of emergent pathologies.

Dispositions of Liberal Democracy

Barber dissects liberalism into three main dispositions, each representing a certain posture towards conflict and the relationship between the individual and the state.