Open AccessDemocracy, Complexity and Participation
Author(s) -
Patrick O’Mahony
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the irish journal of public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2009-1117
DOI - 10.33178/ijpp.3.1.2
Subject(s) - democracy , politics , civil society , corporate governance , deliberative democracy , democratic governance , democratic theory , political science , political economy , liberal democracy , public administration , sociology , law and economics , epistemology , positive economics , law , economics , management , philosophy
The contemporary crisis of democratic governance, heralded in opposing political philosophies since the 1960s, carries on into the present. One response is simply to maintain the procedural core of a liberal-pluralist model of democracy. The essay, drawing inspiration from ideas of responsibility emerging from the civil societal periphery, instead follows more radical democratic models in proposing that the status and role of public participation, and with it deliberative democracy, should be rethought. The paper concludes with some reflections on the empirical-theoretical implications for social and political theory.