Jane Mansbridge: Participation, Deliberation, Legitimate Coercion

Description

Jane Mansbridge’s intellectual career is marked by field-shifting contributions to democratic theory, feminist scholarship, political science methodology, and the empirical study of social movements and direct democracy. Her work has fundamentally challenged existing paradigms in both normative political theory and empirical political science and launched new lines of scholarly inquiry on the most basic questions of the discipline: the sort of equality democracy needs, the goods of political participation, the nature of power, the purposes of deliberation, the forms of political representation, the obstacles to collective action, and the inescapable need for coercion. The editor has focused on work in three key areas: Participation and power Mansbridge’s early work on participatory democracy generated a key insight that has informed all of her subsequent work: the kind of equality we need to legitimate decisions under circumstances of common interests (equal respect) differs from the kind of equality we need when interests conflict (equal power). ** Deliberation and representation ** In the chapters in this section, Mansbridge adds nuance to democratic theory by disaggregating different modes of political representation and explicating the ways in which each can contribute to the deliberative, aggregative and expressive functions of democratic institutions. ** Legitimate coercion ** Mansbridge exemplifies a collaborative spirit through the practice of deliberative co-authorship, through which she and colleagues construct a taxonomy of procedures that can legitimize enforceable collective decisions. Essential reading for anyone interested in liberal conceptions of equality, participation, representation, deliberation, power and coercion. ** About the Author Melissa S. Williams is a professor of political science at the University of Toronto. Her published work addresses, inter alia, the relationship between structural injustice and democratic ideals of egalitarian inclusion, comparative political theory, and the future of democracy in the global era. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: the political thought of Jane Mansbridge Part I Participation and power 1 The limits of friendship (1976) Political equality Equal worth Self-development Equal protection of interests Weighing the costs Unanimity Face-to-face direct democracy Coercion and community Decentralization Notes 2 Feminism and democracy (1990) Democracy as deliberation Nurturance: a politics without power? Feminist theories of power Listening and democratic deliberation Overcoming the subtle forms of power Difference as a political strategy Note 3 Using power/fighting power (1994) The argument in brief Why democracies need to use coercion Why the coercion democracies need will always involve unfairness How citizens might fight the very coercion that they need Why we need to use and fight coercion inside ourselves Reworking the remembrance of injustice Notes Part II Deliberation and representation 4 Should Blacks represent Blacks and women represent women? A contingent “yes” (1999) What is “descriptive” representation? Arguments against descriptive representation The costs of a lottery: lesser talent The costs of selection: which groups, why, and how many from each? “Essentialism” as a cost of selection Other costs of descriptive representation Contexts of distrust: the benefits of enhanced communication Contexts of uncrystallized interests: the benefits of experiential deliberation Beyond substantive representation The construction of social meaning De facto legitimacy Institutionalizing fluid forms of descriptive representation Notes References 5 Everyday talk in the deliberative system (1999) Once more into “the personal is political” Everyday activism and everyday talk Criteria for judging deliberation and everyday talk A range of forums, a range within standards Notes References 6 Rethinking representation (2003) Promissory representation Gyroscopic representation Surrogate representation Deliberative, systemic, and plural normative criteria Notes References 7 The place of self-interest and the role of power in deliberative democracy (2010) I The deliberative democratic ideal reformulated II Forms of deliberation A Classic deliberation B Expansions of the classic ideal C Deliberative negotiation III Self-interest IV The use of power A Is power antithetical to deliberation? B Power in facilitating structures C Power versus power D Power in implementation Conclusion Notes References 8 A systemic approach to deliberative democracy (2012) What is a deliberative system? Boundaries of the system Functions of the deliberative system Defects in the deliberative system Conclusion Notes References Part III Legitimate coercion 9 On the importance of getting things done (2012) Dahl’s two impediments to democracy: the unexamined causal link The resistance tradition A theory of democratic action A theory for our times Notes References 10 “Deliberative negotiation” (2014) Introduction Deliberative negotiation Notes References An interview with Jane Mansbridge: questions from Melissa Williams Ideals behind the ideals Power Legitimate coercion Democracy as a work in progress Note References Index