Interactive Democracy: The Social Roots of Global Justice

Description

"Democracy in the 21st century has failed to live up to its promise. It is widely noted that democratic governments have grown increasingly detached from the governed and incapable of standing up to the powerful economic interests that tend to dominate everyday life. Indeed, these interests have come to permeate politics itself, appearing to render "rule by the people" a bare ideal, seemingly remote and out of reach. Pervasive and persistent inequalities mark contemporary economies, which, though they may produce a wide range of goods and make effective use of new technologies, nonetheless fail to provide many with adequate livelihoods or dignified conditions of work. Even in societies where multiple sources of gratification and fulfillment are available, the limits of the "private sphere" and the informal contexts of interpersonal relationships leave many people dissatisfied and disempowered, whether because of their inability to realize their goals or develop their capacities, or in virtue of residual forms of oppression, racism, and group hatreds"-- Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Part I A theoretical framework 1 A human rights approach to global justice: elements of theory and practice 2 A social ontology of human rights 3 Interpreting freedom dynamically: beyond liberty and autonomy to positive freedom 4 Is there a human right to democracy? Part II The social roots of global justice 5 Transnational solidarities 6 Does global justice presuppose global solidarity? 7 Recognition and care in global justice 8 Gender equality, culture, and the interpretation of human rights 9 The sociality of free speech: the case of humor across cultures 10 Violence, power-with, and the human right to democracy Part III Interactive democracy - transnational, regional, global 11 Diversity, democracy, and dialogue in a human rights framework 12 What is emancipatory networking? 13 Structuring transnational democracy: participation, self-determination, and new forms of representation 14 Democratic management and international labor rights 15 Regional vs. global democracy: possibilities and limitations Works cited Index