1. Challenges of Ordinary Democracy: A Case Study in Deliberation and Dissent
- Author:
- Albert W. Dzur
- Publication Date:
- 08-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Political Science Quarterly
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- This close-range study of democratic decision making focuses on school board meetings in Boulder, Colorado. "Ordinary democracy" refers to the kind of speech that occurs in such meetings as citizens and officials talk with each other. Karen Tracy's perceptive analysis stays at the ground level; "ordinary" means "local" and "observable" speech that reflects routine concerns—speech that aims to do a solid day's work in the public world. Though more than a few of her observations and analyses are relevant to normative political theory, she explicitly steers clear of ongoing debates in political theory between liberalism and critical theory, for example, or between deliberative and participatory democratic theory. Her central goal is simply to describe and make sense of the ordinary democratic talk of local government, something as understudied as it is celebrated in political theory.
- Topic:
- Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- New Zealand