Overview

An exploration of democracy--and how we study it--in all its variations. The Sciences of the Democracies issues a direct challenge to one of the most influential advice books on democracy ever published--the (in)famous ""Trilateral Report"" written in 1975, better known as The Crisis of Democracy--on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. This collaborative project is ambitious, aiming not only to capture the great diversity of democratic practices and institutions but also to introduce a new theory of democracy altogether. The contributors propose a holistic approach to democracy that draws on five sources of knowledge: individual people, groups of people, non-textual media, texts, and non-humans. The outcome is both an innovative account of democratic history and a practical guide for future democracy scholars.

Full Product Details

9781800089044

Table of Contents

Reviews

""The Sciences of the Democracies introduces a genuinely original collaborative project of democratic learning and action. While breaking free from familiar academic constraints in its form and content, it is a record of ongoing research into the pluralism of democratic experiences, institutions and ideas, as well as of the different ways to study and build on them. It should be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered what democracy is, has been and might be.""-- ""Annabelle Lever, Sciences-Po"" ""The Sciences of the Democracies is a wonderful exploration of how we study democracy. Presented as an intervention and innovation in research design, the authors deliver a deep, timely, and inspiring reflection on democracy's past, present, and future.""-- ""Simone Chambers, University of California, Irvine"" ""This collectively-authored book is a manifesto for advancing the democratic project by studying the myriad ways in which people across time and space already know democracy-relevant practices and institutions. A timely and ambitious project aimed at forming and consolidating a new generation of democracy scholars.""-- ""Mark E. Warren, University of British Columbia"" ""This is a wonderfully ambitious book, whose great merit lies in its bold choice to view democracy as a phenomenon of continuous variation--a sine qua non not only for biological adaption in the face of challenge, but also for the democratic revitalization so urgently needed in today's world.""-- ""Frank Hendriks, Tilburg University""

Author Information

Jean-Paul Gagnon is a philosopher of democracies at the University of Canberra and an editor of the journal Democratic Theory. Benjamin Abrams is Associate Professor of Sociology at University College London’s Institute of Education and Chief Editor of the journal Contention. Hans Asenbaum is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra. Andreas Avgousti completed his PhD at Columbia University and teaches History at Katz Yeshiva High School in Florida, USA. Rikki Dean is an associate Professor in Politics and Co-Director for the Centre for Democratic Futures at the University of Southampton. Gergana Dimova is an associate Professor in Politics and Sociology at Northeastern University, London, UK. Peter Donkor earned his master’s from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and is in his pre-doc period. Erica Dorn is an assistant Professor in Design and Innovation at Oregon State University. Anna Drake is an assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo. Dannica Fleuß is a visiting professor at the University of Nairobi and a research associate at the University of Canberra. Brigitte Geissel is Professor of Political Science and Political Sociology and Head of the Research Unit “Democratic Innovations” at Goethe University, Frankfurt. Agustín Goenaga is an assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden. Petra Guasti is an associate Professor of Democratic Theory at Charles University’s Faculty of Social Sciences. Zheng Guo is a pre-doctoral candidate in political science holding a master’s from the University of Copenhagen. Alexander Hudson is a senior Adviser in the Democracy Assessment Unit of International IDEA’s Global Programmes in Stockholm, Sweden. Marcin Kaim is a researcher working at the Polish Academy of Sciences - Scientific Centre in Vienna, Austria. Eva Krick is a democracy scholar, based at the University of Mainz. Kathleen Mccrudden-Illert is a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence. John B. Min is a Philosophy Professor at the Department of Social Sciences at the College of Southern Nevada. Christoph Mohamad-Klotzbach is a postdoctoral Fellow at the Chair of Comparative Politics at the Institute of Political Science and Sociology, University of Würzburg. Leonardo Morlino was Professor Emeritus of Political Science at LUISS, Rome, Italy. Further detail on Professor Morlino’s life and work can be found in an IPSA tribute here: https://www.ipsa.org/na/news/leonardo-morlino-memoriam-1947-2025. Kei Nishiyama is a lecturer of education at Kaichi International University, Japan. Remi Chukwudi Okeke is Lecturer I at Madonna University, Nigeria. Norma Osterberg-Kaufmann is researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Humboldt-Universität Berlin. Lucy J Parry is principally a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Markus Pausch is a democracy researcher and Professor at the Social Department of the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg. Patricia Roberts-Miller is Professor Emerita of Rhetoric and Writing and former Director of the University Writing Center at the University of Texas Austin. Ernesto Cruz Ruiz earned his doctoral degree from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and continues his research on contemporary democracies at the TUM. Shannon Song is a higher degree research student at the University of Canberra. Toralf Stark is a Research Fellow with the Institute of Political Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Tom Theuns is principally a senior assistant Professor of Political Theory and European Politics at the Institute of Political Science in Leiden. Laurence Whitehead is a senior research Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College, Oxford, and series editor of ""Oxford Studies in Democratization"".

Tab Content 6

Countries Available