Associative Democracy and the Crises of Representative Democracies by Bader, Veit; Maussen, Marcel;

Short description:

This book argues that we are in need of normative guidelines and a strong understanding of a range of institutional options and innovative experiments in associative democracy to address the structural problems of existing institutional arrangements whilst maintaining and strengthening democratic forms of government and governance.

Long description:

The familiar problems of democratic capitalism have given way to a deep crisis challenging the basic forms of governance introduced around the late 18th century and then gradually expanded and developed until the late 20th century. Associative Democracy and the Crises of Representative Democracies argues that we are in urgent need of normative guidelines and a strong understanding of a broad range of institutional options and innovative experiments in associative democracy in order to address the structural problems that existing institutional arrangements are confronted with whilst maintaining and strengthening democratic forms of government and governance.

The argument is developed against the background of a thorough survey of empirical social scientific studies on the crises of capitalisms and representative democracies. This book focuses primarily on democratic alternatives, though it also works out principles and institutions of democratic socialism as alternatives to capitalism. After introducing the theoretical approach, the book illustrates the ways this framework of analysis can be of use, with particular focus on three issues that are highly topical when it comes to the challenges our institutions are confronted with: democratic governance in relation to ecological crises and uncertainty; the threats to democracy raised by the crisis of political parties and representative party-democracy, and the challenges related to privatization and marketization of public services, particularly in healthcare. The book concludes by exploring opportunities to democratize the economy, locating viable alternatives to capitalism in the tradition of democratic socialism.

This urgent and thought-provoking book will be of great interest to academics and students in various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, including political science, sociology, and economics.

‘This is a very timely intervention in an ongoing debate on the future of democracy and capitalism. Bringing together various strands of this debate which have hitherto been pursued in splendid isolation from each other, is one of the outstanding merits of the book. Its other merit, going beyond the limits of contemporary debates, are the very detailed and thorough discussions of major problems of extant democratic institutions as well as the difficulties of institutional reforms. Its third merit, no less than the previous ones, is to be found in a careful reassessment of the concept of associative democracy, providing a useful focus for rethinking the possibilities of a future economic democracy (or a democratic socialism). The book will largely contribute to refocussing and advancing the debate on the crises of democracies and their possible futures.’

‘This complex and subtle book explores the possibilities for transforming contemporary capitalist societies in a more democratic direction. It draws effectively upon normative and empirical research to present a sophisticated account of why pluralistic, multi-level associative democracy is possible today. A major contribution.’

Joseph H. Carens, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Toronto, Canada

Table of Contents:

Introduction  1. Crises of democratic capitalism and prospects for democracy  2. A theory of complex democracy: Setting the stage  3. Democracy or expertocracy? Ecological crises and ecological democracy  4. Crisis of political parties and representative democracies: Rethinking parties in associational, experimentalist governance  5. Democratizing healthcare  6. Democratizing the economy: Institutionalizing alternatives to ‘capitalism as we know it’