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democratic theory

June 3, 2022

🦋 Science of Democracy and the Owl of Minerva

Petr Špecián The project of collecting democracy’s words has a quietist undertone. Petr Špecián argues that it provides a desirable counterweight to the activist urge to rethink and redesign the political order. Especially so in today’s challenging times Read more
May 18, 2022

🦋 Reimagining democracy, one word at a time

Andreas Avgousti Andreas Avgousti asserts that collecting democracy’s words gives us a window into the democratic imagination. He reads Jean-Paul Gagnon’s expanding database as an illustration of democratic virtues Read more
May 16, 2022

We need rebellion to confront new disruptive technologies

Felipe Arocena The internet has not, as many hoped, delivered positive change for democracy. But according to Felipe Arocena, there is still a meaningful way to confront the authoritarian advances of new technological powers and reinforce democracy – rebellion Read more
May 13, 2022

🦋 Recovering democratic possibilities in complex political systems

Antonin Lacelle-Webster Jean-Paul Gagnon’s ambitious project expands our democratic imaginaries. While inspiring, Antonin Lacelle-Webster argues that making sense of democracy requires more than a lexicon. Resisting the prevailing sense of disrepair in today’s democratic politics asks us to pay more attention to democracy's appropriation, design, and normative value Read more
May 11, 2022

♟️ Why we must understand civilian participation in military rule

Salah Ben Hammou Researchers of authoritarian politics and civil-military relations have long examined military rule. However, our understanding of civilian participation in military regimes remains limited and requires greater analytical attention, argues Salah Ben Hammou. Amid last year’s coup resurgence, researchers must move to appreciate the subtle but salient differences among military dictatorships Read more
May 6, 2022

♟️ Autocracies with adjectives: we need better typologies of authoritarian regimes

Hager Ali The study of regime types, Hager Ali argues, is imbalanced. Theories and concepts of democracy have received attention for decades. But amid the resurgence of autocracies, scholars of authoritarianism still do not have the luxury of nuanced typologies to dissect the broad spectrum of non-democratic regimes Read more
May 3, 2022

🦋 I classify, therefore I know?

Leonardo Fiorespino Leonardo Fiorespino finds Jean-Paul Gagnon’s proposed lexicon of democracy wanting in its base assumptions around knowledge and arbitrariness. Moreover, he wonders, can we really trust 'democracy's words'? Read more
April 21, 2022

🦋 How to overcome democratic gridlock

Pablo Ouziel Today, democratic imaginaries are diluted while parochial understandings of democracy are presented as universal. Such a state of affairs, argues Pablo Ouziel, calls for a deeply diverse speaking-with multilogue amongst democratic traditions Read more

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Advancing Political Science
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