Organizing Democracy

Reviews / Votes

'Governance has emerged a central concept in the fields of both political theory and public administration. But it has not done so without controversy and this book examines one of the primary concerns associated with the theory and practice of government - namely, its relationship to democratic values and their practical realization. Moreover, it does this through a neglected perspective. Whereas most research on governance has taken a top down approach, these essays look at specific empirical experiences from the bottom up. The book thus offers a new and useful discussion on an essential question in contemporary debates about governance.' -- Frank Fischer, Rutgers University, US 'Nationally and supra-nationally, political decision-making shifts from democratic fora to decentralized organizations of what is called "governance". Questions arise about the survival of democratic values in unaccountable structures that assign agency to special interests and to professional and non-governmental expertise. Organizing Democracy provides detailed case studies of these new forms, and assesses how they carry or deflect democratic values. It will be of great interest to students of new organizational forms, and those concerned with the maintenance of democracy.' -- John W. Meyer, Stanford University, US 'The proliferation of interactive forms of governance may challenge and problemematize the predominant model of liberal representative democracy. Nevertheless, the new governance arrangements may also contribute to a reinvigoration of democracy in the face of the growing democratic disenchantment. Instead of continuing the endless theoretical debates on this issue, this book presents a number of empirical studies of how democracy is articulated and re-articulated by a plethora of actors in the new interactive governance arenas. As such, the book provides a most welcome analysis of the embryonic reinvention of democracy in our increasingly complex, fragmented and multi-layered societies.' -- Jacob Torfing, Roskilde University, Denmark