Activities
The network will organise five workshops as follows:
The formation of "Representative democracy"
organised by Dr. Jose Rosales in Malaga, Spain 10-11 October 2003
Democratisation and Political Rhetoric
organised by Professor Kari Palonen in Jyväskylä, Finland, 28-29 May 2004
Citizenship and the Politics of Gender
organised by Professor Simona Forti in Torino Italy, 18-19 February 2005
Temporalisation and professionalisation of politics
organised by Professor Hubertus Buchstein in Greifswald, Germany, 27-28 May 2005
Current challenges to"Representative Democracy"
organised by Professor Uffe Jakobsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, 16-17 December 2005
Description of the workshops
The formation of "representative democracy". The concept of a representative democracy was introduced in the late 18th century but was more widely accepted only after 1830. Within this workshop the differences between representative democracy, based ultimately on universal suffrage, and competing constitutional systems such as direct democracy will be discussed, similarly its relationship with parliamentarism. The machinery of representative democracy, such as the principles and practices of voting will also be considered, along with the need for rethinking the process of government and exercise of power.
Democratisation and rhetoric. Rhetoric offers a new perspective on the study of democratisation. The rhetorical culture of speaking for and against has served as a paradigm for parliamentary politics. Democratisation has extended this model to the world of campaigns and party meetings, and eventually to the radio and TV. How far does all this alter the agenda, the styles and the conditions of political agency? How far did these changes diminish the role or the rhetorical culture of controversy in democratic politics? Which new forms of democratic political rhetoric do new audiences, new media and new types of political agency offer?
Representative democracy and the politics of gender. In the 19th century, the question of women’s vote was marginalized in the debates over „universal" suffrage. The enfranchisement processes in European democracies differed, and in some cases women’s vote did not rise to the top of the political agenda. Do the political cultures with militant suffragists still differ from those in which the vote for women was granted smoothly? The contemporary theories of democracy increasingly identify gender as a significant challenge regarding the universalistic assumptions of political agency. Is the rhetoric, professional performance and representation in politics gendered and gendering? Does gender matter, and to what extent does it matters, in representative democracy?
Temporalisation and professionalisation of politics. Representative democracy is a temporal regime and its main actors are professional politicians. The limited time span of office, as well as the ‘calendar’ of parliamentary and partisan politics offer instruments for political action. All this is also related to professionalisation politics. Democracy itself has created the professional politician, partly by making it impossible to thrive in politics without devoting a full life to it, although the recognition of this has been subject to fierce debates. Questions to be discussed include how politicians are recruited and controlled, about funding in politics and the way individuals juggle professional careers with periods in political life.
Challenges to" representative democracy". Today representative democracy is subjected to various challenges from above, below and within. Such phenomena as the European unification and the globalisation process both subvert national democracies and offer new chances for democratisation. The relevance of parliamentary democracy to the daily lives and activities of citizens as reshaped for example by the new media and new technologies is also in question. The relationships between the state and the citizens, the government and the parliament, the elections and other forms of political participation also similarly subject to change. Which kind of political innovations, technologies and procedures could be constructed to face such challenges?
