Political Knowledge and Democracy at Scale
A Systems Defense Against Democratic Skepticism
- Publisher's listprice GBP 85.00
-
38 377 Ft (36 550 Ft + 5% VAT)
The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.
- Discount 20% (cc. 7 675 Ft off)
- Discounted price 30 702 Ft (29 240 Ft + 5% VAT)
- Discount is valid until: 30 June 2026
Subcribe now and take benefit of a favourable price.
Subscribe
38 377 Ft
Availability
printed on demand
Why don't you give exact delivery time?
Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.
Product details:
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
- Date of Publication 30 April 2026
- ISBN 9781666950694
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages256 pages
- Size 230x158x20 mm
- Weight 500 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 5 tables 700
Categories
Short description:
Focused on the structural conditions of all political knowledge, this book takes democratic skepticism seriously but uses these critiques to argue for democracy as a political goal on epistemic grounds.
MoreLong description:
Many philosophical defenses of democracy are moral ones, appealing to ethical principles of inclusion or right or justice; this book argues - against an increasingly visible trend of democratic skepticism - for democracy as a goal on epistemic grounds.
As part of a growing dissatisfaction with political outcomes, both political theorists and colloquial political discourse decry the seeming ignorance of democratic publics and seek to limit their influence on policy outcomes. The argument that ignorance causes bad political outcomes is the impetus for both arguments for epistocracy at the level of political theory and, more recently, actual political efforts to limit access to collective political self-determination.
This book responds by arguing for the epistemic value of democracy and clarifying a definition of political knowledge beyond formal expertise. The embedded model of political knowledge understands political knowledge (including expertise) to be situated, incomplete, and fallible in ways that necessitate maximal political inclusion and opportunities for productive epistemic sharing among the polity. Deliberative systems can facilitate these opportunities at scale by relying on formal and informal institutions as sites for epistemic expression and engagement.
In centering the epistemic role of deliberative systems over the epistemic responsibilities of the individual in a democratic context, we can examine the ways in which political knowledge forms and is expressed in mass democracies. This book suggests that poor political outcomes result, not when publics are insufficiently knowledgeable, but when our epistemic institutions fail to ensure that policy is responsive to public knowledge. A deliberative systems approach reveals ways in which problems like misinformation and political apathy are not features of public ignorance but are rather contingent symptoms of systems in which epistemic institutions operate according to non-democratic practices and logics.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: Political Knowledge and Deliberative Systems Theory
Chapter 1: On Knowledge, Public and Political
Chapter 2: An Epistemic Defense of Democracy: A Systems Approach
Chapter 3: Deliberative Systems and Epistemic Responsibilities of the State
Part II: Epistemic Institutions and Deliberative Practice
Interlude: Deliberative Conditions and Political Outcomes
Chapter 4: On Epistemic Errors in the Public Sphere: Misinformation and Mass Media for Profit
Chapter 5: The Harms of Systemic Deliberative Exclusion
Chapter 6: Impoverished Horizons: Public Apathy and the Collapse of Political Demand
Chapter 7: Prefigurativism Toward Economic and Political Democracy
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
