Beyond Adversary Democracy by Jane J. Mansbridge (English) Paperback Book

Description: Beyond Adversary Democracy by Jane J. Mansbridge This book deals with two great themes in American political thought: democracy and equality. I began work on it in the late 1960s, when I was a member of several small' participatory democracies.' Sooner or later, internal struggles over equality left each of these groups in disarray. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description "Beyond Adversary Democracy should be read by everyone concerned with democratic theory and practice."—Carol Pateman, Politics"Sociologists recurrently complain about how seldom it is that we produce books that combine serious theorizing about important issues of public policy with original and sensitive field research. Several rounds of enthusiastic applause, then, are due Jane Mansbridge . . . for having produced a dense and well written book whose subject is nothing less ambitious than the theory of democracy and its problems of equality, solidarity, and consensus. Beyond Adversary Democracy, however, is not simply a work of political theory; Mansbridge explores her abstract subject matter by close studies (using ethnographic, documentary, and questionnaire methods) of two small actual democracies operating at their most elemental American levels (1) a New England town meeting ("Selby," Vermont) and (2) an urban crisis center ("Helpline"), whose 41 employees shared a New Left-Counterculture belief in participatory democracy and consensual decision-making. [Mansbridge] is a force to contend with. It is in our common interest that she be widely read."—Bennett M. Berger, Contemporary Sociology Author Biography Jane J. Mansbridge is professor of political science at Northwestern University. She is also on the faculty of the universitys Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research. Table of Contents Preface (1983) I. The Argument 1. Introduction 2. Unitary versus Adversary Democracy 3. The Inner Logic of Unitary Democracy II. A Town Meeting Government 4. Life in Small Town Selby 5. The Town Meeting 6. Unitary Forces in a Face-to-Face Assembly 7. The Common Interest 8. Conflicting Interests 9. Political Inequality: Selby 10. Free Choice in Selby 11. Was There a Golden Era? III. A Participatory Workplace 12. Helpline: A Crisis Center 13. Fears of Conflict in a Face-to-Face Assembly 14. Consensus and the Common Interest 15. Political Inequality: Helpline 16. The Lust for Power IV. Conclusion 17. Equality 18. Consensus 19. Face-to-Face Assembly 20. Size and the Two Forms of Democracy 21. The Limits of Friendship 22. First Principles Appendix A. Political Equality in Selby and Helpline: Tables Appendix B. Variables and Indexes Notes Bibliography Index Kirkus US Review Although all American citizens might say that they value democracy, some of them may mean by this the idea of majority rule and some may mean the idea of consensus. University of Chicago political scientist Mansbridge thinks theres a conceptual confusion here that needs to be cleared up. By "adversary democracy," she means majority rule, conflict of interest, and rules of due procedure; by "unitary democracy," she understands consensus, common interest, and persuasion. While both senses of democracy are in continuous interaction, she thinks a case can be made for consciously trying to implement unitary democracy. Using an old-fashioned case study approach, Mansbridge looked in on the Vermont town of Selby and studied what went on in and around its town meetings, and then studied the decision-making processes at work in a "participatory workplace," in this case a crisis center named Helpline. In Selby, Mansbridge noted that the townspeople tried to stick to the unitary mode, since this was more consistent with their self-image as neighbors and friends. On some occasions, however - such as in conflict over the school budget - competing interests came to a head, and the town meetings shifted to a majority rule procedure, so that a constant shifting was the norm, employing whichever form of democracy seemed most appropriate to the issues in question. At Helpline, whose membership of 41 (as against 350 citizens of Selby) was committed to persuasion and unitary democracy, the consensual path was always the desirable one, though the road was often rocky. Mansbridges conclusions are less than startling: where a common interest prevails, the benefits of participation outweigh the satisfaction of less important particular interests, and unitary democracy is better able to realize the goals of democracy - including self-development - than the adversarial variety; but even in face-to-face communities, some conflict of interest is inevitable, so in those instances majoritarian democracy should still hold sway. The two cases studied are lined up in favor of this finding in advance, but the theoretical argument will stand or fall without the case studies anyway. A lot of effort for rather meager results. (Kirkus Reviews) Details ISBN0226503550 Author Jane J. Mansbridge Pages 412 Language English ISBN-10 0226503550 ISBN-13 9780226503554 Media Book Format Paperback Year 1983 Imprint University of Chicago Press Place of Publication Chicago, IL Country of Publication United States Short Title BEYOND ADVERSARY DEMOCRACY Illustrations black & white illustrations Edition New edition DOI 10.1604/9780226503554 UK Release Date 1983-06-15 AU Release Date 1983-06-15 NZ Release Date 1983-06-15 US Release Date 1983-06-15 Publisher The University of Chicago Press Publication Date 1983-06-15 DEWEY 321.8 Audience Undergraduate We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. 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