Description
Book SynopsisScholars of politics are comfortable theorizing about the parliamentary process and individual political parties, but they are often guilty of ignoring the role of individual citizens except through opinion polls and voting statistics. Even at the local level, the main focus of political theorists has traditionally been on formal systems of governmentusually lauding representative democracy as the standard for Western governmentwhile the importance of participatory action at a local level has been vastly underestimated. Correcting this imbalance, the renowned political scholars who contribute to this volume outline both the theory and practice of so-called extra-formal democracy, wherein societal governance is more accurately described as a network activity and citizens, politicians, public administrators and other professionals act together on issues or problems that are defined as public. This new and complex form of democracyexplored here in three unique settings: the United States, the Netherlands, and Denmarkis increasingly regarded as an achievable vision for a multi-faceted theory of government.
Trade ReviewThis book is remarkable both for its sophistication in bridging the gap between cutting edge theory and emerging practices of “extra-formal” democracy, and for the freshness of the ideas that follow from its multi-national perspective. I no sooner finished it than I began sharing its insights with my students. -- Frank E. Scott, California State University, Hayward
This is a timely book! On the domestic front, reactions to terrorism threaten democracy. Internationally, globalism conflates capitalism with democracy to the benefit of capitalism and to the detriment of democracy. Top-to-bottom approaches to democracy are fatally flawed. Horizontal or bottom-to-top, situational, relational, and pragmatic alternatives need to be revived. Together, the authors in Tampering with Tradition provide an intellectually sophisticated foundation for that revival. -- Larry S. Luton, Eastern Washington University
Table of Contents1 Introduction: Extra-Formal Democracy 2 Deliberative Governance: Renewing Public Service and Public Trust 3 Democratic Governance: Allocative, Integrative, or Deliberative? 4 Making Local Democracy Work: Neighborhood-Oriented Reform in Los Angeles and the Dutch Randstad 5 Democratic Consequences of Urban Governance: What has become of Representative Democracy? 6 Entrepreneurship in Community Development and Local Governance 7 Democratic Governance and the Role of Public Adminstrators 8 Mediated Negotiations, a Deliberative Approach to Democratic Governance: Theoretical Linkages and Practial Examples 9 Interaction Research: Joining Persons, Theories, and Practices 10 Democratic Epistemology 11 Extra-Formal Democracy: A Reflection
