The Politics of Participation From Athens to E-Democracy

by Qvortrup, Matt

• ISBN13: 9780719076589
• ISBN10: 0719076587
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-15
• Publisher: MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS

Summary

We live in an age of democracy. Very few people challenge the virtues of "government by the people", yet, politicians and commentators are fond of decrying the "crisis of democracy". How do these views square up? This book provides the answer by surveying the philosophical history of democracy and its critics and by analyzing empirical data about citizen participation in Britain and other developed democracies. In addition to analysis of major political thinkers like Plato, Machiavelli and J.S. Mill, the book analyzes how modern technology has influenced democracy. An essential book for students of politics, history and media studies this study puts the debate about democracy into perspective and offers a solid grounding for future discussions.

Author Biography

Matt Qvortrup is Professor of Political Science at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.



 

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xi
A note on the data	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Theoretical aspects of citizen politics
Understanding citizen politics: a methodological overview	p. 7
Participation and democracy from the Greeks to our times	p. 15
Empirical foundations of citizen politics
An empirical approach to citizen politics	p. 43
Bottom-up politics: riots and extra-parliamentary participation	p. 58
Top-down politics: e-democracy, citizens' juries and designer politics	p. 67
Citizens as voters	p. 82
Excursus: the power of the representatives	p. 99
Case studies in citizen democracy
Decisions to hold referendums in the UK	p. 115
Voting by the people: the referendums on the European Constitution	p. 131
Absentee voting: a comparative perspective	p. 150
Conclusion: quo vadis democracy?	p. 159
References	p. 164
Index	p. 177
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