Overview

"Scholars of politics are comfortable theorizing about the parliamentary process and individual political parties, but they are often guilty of ignoring the role of individual citizens except through opinion polls and voting statistics. Even at the local level, the main focus of political theorists has traditionally been on formal systems of government—usually lauding representative democracy as the standard for Western government—while the importance of participatory action at a local level has been vastly underestimated. Correcting this imbalance, the renowned political scholars who contribute to this volume outline both the theory and practice of so-called ""extra-formal democracy,"" wherein societal governance is more accurately described as a ""network activity"" and citizens, politicians, public administrators and other professionals act together on issues or problems that are defined as public. This new and complex form of democracy—explored here in three unique settings: the United States, the Netherlands, and Denmark—is increasingly regarded as an achievable vision for a multi-faceted theory of government."

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9780739107485

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Reviews

This book is remarkable both for its sophistication in bridging the gap between cutting edge theory and emerging practices of extra-formal democracy, and for the freshness of the ideas that follow from its multi-national perspective. I no sooner finished it than I began sharing its insights with my students.--Frank E. Scott

This book is remarkable both for its sophistication in bridging the gap between cutting edge theory and emerging practices of extra-formal democracy, and for the freshness of the ideas that follow from its multi-national perspective. I no sooner finished it than I began sharing its insights with my students. -- Frank E. Scott, California State University, Hayward This is a timely book! On the domestic front, reactions to terrorism threaten democracy. Internationally, globalism conflates capitalism with democracy to the benefit of capitalism and to the detriment of democracy. Top-to-bottom approaches to democracy are fatally flawed. Horizontal or bottom-to-top, situational, relational, and pragmatic alternatives need to be revived. Together, the authors in Tampering with Tradition provide an intellectually sophisticated foundation for that revival. -- Larry S. Luton, Eastern Washington University

Author Information

Peter Bogason is Professor of Public Administration at the University of Roskilde. Sandra Kensen is Assistant Professor of Law at Tilburg University. Hugh T. Miller is Professor of Public Administration at Florida Atlantic University.

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