Putting the demos back into the concept of democratic quality

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6298643
AutoresQuinton Mayne (0000-0003-4681-5515, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, USA, autor correspondente), Brigitte Geissel (0000-0002-1310-949X, Goethe University Frankfurt)
Ano2016
Volume37
Fascículo5
Páginas634-644
Data de publicação2016-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0192-5121 • E-ISSN: 1460-373X
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0192512115616269
OpenAlexW2280025112
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas13
Referências citadas22

In this paper we argue that the concept of democratic quality consists of two necessary, but independently insufficient, components. The first is an opportunity-structure component, which includes the institutional and structural opportunities that allow for democratic rule. The second is a citizen component, which refers to the ways in which citizens can and do breathe life into existing institutional opportunities for democratic rule. Based on work from political theory we show how different ontologies or models of democracy place different demands on citizens as much as they do on institutions. We demonstrate the need for quality-of-democracy research to engage with work in political behavior and political psychology, from which it has traditionally been disconnected. In doing so, we provide a parsimonious analytic framework for a theory-driven selection of indicators related to three key citizen dispositions: namely, democratic commitments, political capacities, and political participation. The paper ends with a brief discussion of important implications of our argument for the future study of democratic quality

Argument (complex analysis · Component (thermodynamics · Democracy · Democratic Theory · Epistemology · Law and economics · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Quality (philosophy · Sociology · Work (physics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Engineering · Law · Public Administration · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Media and Politics