Representative democracy [[electronic resource] ] : principles and genealogy / / Nadia Urbinati

• Autore: Urbinati Nadia <1955->
• Pubblicazione: Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, c2006
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (341 p.)
• Disciplina: 321.8
• Soggetto topico: Representative government and representation; Democracy
• Soggetto non controllato: representative government, democracy, politics, political science, athens, sovereignty, representation, accountability, decision making, influence, power, electorate, voting, marquis de condorcet, paine, emmanuel joseph sieyes, kant, rousseau, discord, ballot, free speech, circulation of ideas, public, community, partisanship, fairness, justice, equality, advocacy, delegates, freedom, judgement, revolution, consent, federalism, sensus communis, despotism, constitutionalism, collegiality, moderation, trust, surveillance, nonfiction
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-315) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Representation and Democracy -- 2. Rousseau's Unrepresentable Sovereign -- 3. Will and Judgment: The Kantian Revision -- 4. A Nation of Electors: Sieye's Model of Representative Government -- 5. Thomas Paine and the Perfecting of Simple Democracy -- 6. A Republic of Citizens: Condorcet's Indirect Democracy -- Conclusion: A Surplus of Politics -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: It is usually held that representative government is not strictly democratic, since it does not allow the people themselves to directly make decisions. But here, taking as her guide Thomas Paine's subversive view that "Athens, by representation, would have surpassed her own democracy," Nadia Urbinati challenges this accepted wisdom, arguing that political representation deserves to be regarded as a fully legitimate mode of democratic decision making-and not just a pragmatic second choice when direct democracy is not possible. As Urbinati shows, the idea that representation is incompatible with democracy stems from our modern concept of sovereignty, which identifies politics with a decision maker's direct physical presence and the immediate act of the will. She goes on to contend that a democratic theory of representation can and should go beyond these identifications. Political representation, she demonstrates, is ultimately grounded in a continuum of influence and power created by political judgment, as well as the way presence through ideas and speech links society with representative institutions. Deftly integrating the ideas of such thinkers as Rousseau, Kant, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, Paine, and the Marquis de Condorcet with her own, Urbinati constructs a thought-provoking alternative vision of democracy.
• Titolo autorizzato: Representative democracy
• ISBN: 1-281-96672-X; 9786611966720; 0-226-84280-0
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910782427803321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II