Melissa S Williams
Biographic Data
| ID | 3628103 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melissa S Williams |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melissa S |
| FAMILY NAME | Williams |
| SIGNATURE | WILLIAMS M S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 60 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Political theory in context, normativity without frontiers: Thinking along with Joseph Carens
Empowering Affected Interests: Democratic Inclusion in a Globalized World
Many demands for democratic inclusion rest on a simple yet powerful idea. It's a principle of affected interests. The principle states that all those affected by a collective decision should have a say in making that decision. Yet, in today's highly globalized world, the implications of this 'All-Affected Principle' are potentially radical and far-reaching. Empowering Affected Interests brings together a distinguished group of leading democratic …
Moral Universalism and Pluralism: Nomos Xlix
Moral universalism, or the idea that some system of ethics applies to all people regardless of race, color, nationality, religion, or culture, must have a plurality over which to range a plurality of diverse persons, nations, jurisdictions, or localities over which morality asserts a universal authority. The contributors to Moral Universalism and Pluralism , the latest volume in the NOMOS series, investigate the idea that, far from denying the ex…
Political Rawls
Deparochializing Democratic Theory
In this chapter, Melissa Williams begins from the challenge that most contemporary democratic theory is rooted exclusively in Euro-American thought traditions. This is problematic not only for understanding democracy in non-Western contexts but also for crafting democratic theory that can be responsive to globalization. How can a theory of democracy claim global validity if it draws exclusively on Western political experience? The chapter adopts …
Deparochializing Political Theory
In a world no longer centered on the West, what should political theory become? Although Western intellectual traditions continue to dominate academic journals and course syllabi in political theory, up-and-coming contributions of 'comparative political theory' are rapidly transforming the field. Deparochializing Political Theory creates a space for conversation amongst leading scholars who differ widely in their approaches to political theory. T…
East Asian Perspectives on Political Legitimacy: Bridging the Empirical-Normative Divide
What makes a government legitimate? Why do people voluntarily comply with laws, even when no one is watching? The idea of political legitimacy captures the fact that people obey when they think governments' actions accord with valid principles. For some, what matters most is the government's performance on security and the economy. For others, only a government that follows democratic principles can be legitimate. Political legitimacy is therefor…
The Management Impact of Elected Leaders: Attorneys General
The study of management has focused increasingly on the specific and unique demands of the government/public sector. Government agencies function in political turmoil which is most experienced by career employees and staff who remain despite changing administrations. Using a qualitative phenomenological research design, this study sought to understand and explain the experiences of government employees working under the management of elected lead…
A Democratic Case for Comparative Political Theory
Globalization generates new structures of human interdependence and vulnerability while also posing challenges for models of democracy rooted in territorially bounded states. The diverse phenomena of globalization have stimulated two relatively new branches of political theory: theoretical accounts of the possibilities of democracy beyond the state; and comparative political theory, which aims at bringing non-Western political thought into conver…
Beyond the Empirical-Normative Divide: The Democratic Theory of Jane Mansbridge
Jane Mansbridge's intellectual career is marked by field-shifting contributions to democratic theory, feminist scholarship, political science methodology, and the empirical study of social movements and direct democracy. Her work has fundamentally challenged existing paradigms in both normative political theory and empirical political science and launched new lines of scholarly inquiry on the most basic questions of democratic equality, deliberat…
Toleration and Its Limits: Nomos Xlviii
Rehfeld's Hyper-Madisonianism
Nonterritorial boundaries of citizenship
Discourses of loyalty, patriotism, and national identity have always been familiar fixtures of American public discourse. But after 9/11, patriotic sentiments were expressed more unreservedly than in recent memory, perhaps more so than in any period since the early Cold War. This is unsurprising, given the devastation wrought by the terrorist attacks and the fact that a violent assault by a foreign enemy is always a spur to national solidarity. S…
Japan and “the Other”: Reconceiving Japanese Citizenship in the Era of Globalization
The era of globalization has produced increasing social diversity within Japanese society, forcing a reexamination of mainstream assumptions about Japanese national identity and citizenship. Local government and civil-society responses to social diversity have led to the blossoming of internationalization and "sister city" movements. At the national level, however, clear leadership supporting reform of national immigration and citizenship policie…
The Uneasy Alliance of Group Representation and Deliberative Democracy
Voice, Trust, and Memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation
Does fair political representation for historically disadvantaged groups require their presence in legislative bodies? The intuition that women are best represented by women, and African-Americans by other African-Americans, has deep historical roots. Yet the conception of fair representation that prevails in American political culture and jurisprudence--what Melissa Williams calls "liberal representation"--concludes that the social identity of l…
Voice, trust, and memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation
Does fair political representation for historically disadvantaged groups require their presence in legislative bodies? The intuition that women are best represented by women, and African Americans by other African Americans, has deep historical roots. Yet the conception of fair representation that prevails in American political culture and jurisprudence - what Melissa Williams calls "liberal representation" - concludes that the social identity of…
Islam, immigration and group recognition1
Islam generally, and Muslim immigrant communities in particular, have recently been targeted for criticism by Western academics and in popular Western media. This article explores the substance of these criticisms and weighs them against the beliefs and practices of Muslim immigrants in Western liberal democracies. The article addresses three distinct questions. First, what sorts of cultural adaptations is it reasonable for liberal democratic sta…
Pluralism, Justice, and Equality. David Miller , Michael Walzer
Burkean “Descriptions” and Political Representation: A Reappraisal
The theoretical literature on representation tends to read the work of Edmund Burke as a defence of a functional-corporatist conception of society, in which the groups relevant for political representation are stable and objective economic “interests” whose cooperation in and contribution to the life of nation and empire are essential for the status of Britain as a pre-eminent commercial power. This article presents an alternative, contractarian …
Justice Toward Groups: Political Not Juridical
L'A. pose le probleme d'une reconciliation entre l'aspiration a l'egalite politique et la difference sociale et culturelle dans les Etats liberaux democratiques. Il vise a montrer que l'approche politique pour definir la justice envers les groupes non seulement a des avantages importants sur l'approche juridique, mais encore qu'elle est implicite en celle-ci, et que cette interrogation souleve le probleme de l'impartialite juridique
Liberals and CommunitariansStephen Mulhall and Adam Swift Oxford: Blackwell, 1992, pp. xvii, 302
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
A Democratic Case for Comparative Political Theory
Globalization generates new structures of human interdependence and vulnerability while also posing challenges for models of democracy rooted in territorially bounded states. The diverse phenomena of globalization have stimulated two relatively new branches of political theory: theoretical accounts of the possibilities of democracy beyond the state; and comparative political theory, which aims at bringing non-Western political thought into conver…
Justice Toward Groups: Political Not Juridical
L'A. pose le probleme d'une reconciliation entre l'aspiration a l'egalite politique et la difference sociale et culturelle dans les Etats liberaux democratiques. Il vise a montrer que l'approche politique pour definir la justice envers les groupes non seulement a des avantages importants sur l'approche juridique, mais encore qu'elle est implicite en celle-ci, et que cette interrogation souleve le probleme de l'impartialite juridique
Burkean “Descriptions” and Political Representation: A Reappraisal
The theoretical literature on representation tends to read the work of Edmund Burke as a defence of a functional-corporatist conception of society, in which the groups relevant for political representation are stable and objective economic “interests” whose cooperation in and contribution to the life of nation and empire are essential for the status of Britain as a pre-eminent commercial power. This article presents an alternative, contractarian …
Rehfeld's Hyper-Madisonianism
Islam, immigration and group recognition1
Islam generally, and Muslim immigrant communities in particular, have recently been targeted for criticism by Western academics and in popular Western media. This article explores the substance of these criticisms and weighs them against the beliefs and practices of Muslim immigrants in Western liberal democracies. The article addresses three distinct questions. First, what sorts of cultural adaptations is it reasonable for liberal democratic sta…
Beyond the Empirical-Normative Divide: The Democratic Theory of Jane Mansbridge
Jane Mansbridge's intellectual career is marked by field-shifting contributions to democratic theory, feminist scholarship, political science methodology, and the empirical study of social movements and direct democracy. Her work has fundamentally challenged existing paradigms in both normative political theory and empirical political science and launched new lines of scholarly inquiry on the most basic questions of democratic equality, deliberat…
Liberals and CommunitariansStephen Mulhall and Adam Swift Oxford: Blackwell, 1992, pp. xvii, 302
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Justice Toward Groups: Political Not Juridical
L'A. pose le probleme d'une reconciliation entre l'aspiration a l'egalite politique et la difference sociale et culturelle dans les Etats liberaux democratiques. Il vise a montrer que l'approche politique pour definir la justice envers les groupes non seulement a des avantages importants sur l'approche juridique, mais encore qu'elle est implicite en celle-ci, et que cette interrogation souleve le probleme de l'impartialite juridique
Pluralism, Justice, and Equality. David Miller , Michael Walzer
Burkean “Descriptions” and Political Representation: A Reappraisal
The theoretical literature on representation tends to read the work of Edmund Burke as a defence of a functional-corporatist conception of society, in which the groups relevant for political representation are stable and objective economic “interests” whose cooperation in and contribution to the life of nation and empire are essential for the status of Britain as a pre-eminent commercial power. This article presents an alternative, contractarian …
Voice, Trust, and Memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation
Does fair political representation for historically disadvantaged groups require their presence in legislative bodies? The intuition that women are best represented by women, and African-Americans by other African-Americans, has deep historical roots. Yet the conception of fair representation that prevails in American political culture and jurisprudence--what Melissa Williams calls "liberal representation"--concludes that the social identity of l…
Voice, trust, and memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation
Does fair political representation for historically disadvantaged groups require their presence in legislative bodies? The intuition that women are best represented by women, and African Americans by other African Americans, has deep historical roots. Yet the conception of fair representation that prevails in American political culture and jurisprudence - what Melissa Williams calls "liberal representation" - concludes that the social identity of…
Islam, immigration and group recognition1
Islam generally, and Muslim immigrant communities in particular, have recently been targeted for criticism by Western academics and in popular Western media. This article explores the substance of these criticisms and weighs them against the beliefs and practices of Muslim immigrants in Western liberal democracies. The article addresses three distinct questions. First, what sorts of cultural adaptations is it reasonable for liberal democratic sta…
The Uneasy Alliance of Group Representation and Deliberative Democracy
Japan and “the Other”: Reconceiving Japanese Citizenship in the Era of Globalization
The era of globalization has produced increasing social diversity within Japanese society, forcing a reexamination of mainstream assumptions about Japanese national identity and citizenship. Local government and civil-society responses to social diversity have led to the blossoming of internationalization and "sister city" movements. At the national level, however, clear leadership supporting reform of national immigration and citizenship policie…
Nonterritorial boundaries of citizenship
Discourses of loyalty, patriotism, and national identity have always been familiar fixtures of American public discourse. But after 9/11, patriotic sentiments were expressed more unreservedly than in recent memory, perhaps more so than in any period since the early Cold War. This is unsurprising, given the devastation wrought by the terrorist attacks and the fact that a violent assault by a foreign enemy is always a spur to national solidarity. S…
Toleration and Its Limits: Nomos Xlviii
Rehfeld's Hyper-Madisonianism
Beyond the Empirical-Normative Divide: The Democratic Theory of Jane Mansbridge
Jane Mansbridge's intellectual career is marked by field-shifting contributions to democratic theory, feminist scholarship, political science methodology, and the empirical study of social movements and direct democracy. Her work has fundamentally challenged existing paradigms in both normative political theory and empirical political science and launched new lines of scholarly inquiry on the most basic questions of democratic equality, deliberat…
The Management Impact of Elected Leaders: Attorneys General
The study of management has focused increasingly on the specific and unique demands of the government/public sector. Government agencies function in political turmoil which is most experienced by career employees and staff who remain despite changing administrations. Using a qualitative phenomenological research design, this study sought to understand and explain the experiences of government employees working under the management of elected lead…
A Democratic Case for Comparative Political Theory
Globalization generates new structures of human interdependence and vulnerability while also posing challenges for models of democracy rooted in territorially bounded states. The diverse phenomena of globalization have stimulated two relatively new branches of political theory: theoretical accounts of the possibilities of democracy beyond the state; and comparative political theory, which aims at bringing non-Western political thought into conver…
East Asian Perspectives on Political Legitimacy: Bridging the Empirical-Normative Divide
What makes a government legitimate? Why do people voluntarily comply with laws, even when no one is watching? The idea of political legitimacy captures the fact that people obey when they think governments' actions accord with valid principles. For some, what matters most is the government's performance on security and the economy. For others, only a government that follows democratic principles can be legitimate. Political legitimacy is therefor…
Deparochializing Democratic Theory
In this chapter, Melissa Williams begins from the challenge that most contemporary democratic theory is rooted exclusively in Euro-American thought traditions. This is problematic not only for understanding democracy in non-Western contexts but also for crafting democratic theory that can be responsive to globalization. How can a theory of democracy claim global validity if it draws exclusively on Western political experience? The chapter adopts …
Deparochializing Political Theory
In a world no longer centered on the West, what should political theory become? Although Western intellectual traditions continue to dominate academic journals and course syllabi in political theory, up-and-coming contributions of 'comparative political theory' are rapidly transforming the field. Deparochializing Political Theory creates a space for conversation amongst leading scholars who differ widely in their approaches to political theory. T…
Political Rawls
Moral Universalism and Pluralism: Nomos Xlix
Moral universalism, or the idea that some system of ethics applies to all people regardless of race, color, nationality, religion, or culture, must have a plurality over which to range a plurality of diverse persons, nations, jurisdictions, or localities over which morality asserts a universal authority. The contributors to Moral Universalism and Pluralism , the latest volume in the NOMOS series, investigate the idea that, far from denying the ex…
Empowering Affected Interests: Democratic Inclusion in a Globalized World
Many demands for democratic inclusion rest on a simple yet powerful idea. It's a principle of affected interests. The principle states that all those affected by a collective decision should have a say in making that decision. Yet, in today's highly globalized world, the implications of this 'All-Affected Principle' are potentially radical and far-reaching. Empowering Affected Interests brings together a distinguished group of leading democratic …
Political theory in context, normativity without frontiers: Thinking along with Joseph Carens
Political science (19 works) · Law (17 works) · Politics (16 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Democracy (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works)