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political theory

August 1, 2022

🦋 Confronting democracy’s foundational flaws

Anna Drake How should we approach a database of democracy’s words when many of these collected democracies fail to respect people’s moral and political equality? According to Anna Drake, if we want meaningful narratives to emerge, then we must confront foundational challenges to democracy and centre these in our analysis. Read more
July 27, 2022

Conservative leadership hopefuls should listen to Hobbes regarding Scotland

Ruairidh Brown Despite often being regarded as a blueprint for authoritarianism, Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan gives prudent advice on the limitations of sovereign power. Ruairidh Brown argues this serves as a timely warning for the next Conservative leader on their approach to Scottish politics Read more
July 25, 2022

🦋 The ‘Science of Democracy’ is more than falsification

James Wong While Jean-Paul Gagnon’s data mountain project aims to rescue an abandoned science, others reject the study as not genuinely scientific. James Wong advocates a pluralist view of the epistemic commitments of (political) science and argues that Gagnon’s project can be grounded in scientific anti-realism and constructivism Read more
July 20, 2022

🦋 Connecting theory to the messy realities of democratic innovations in practice

Lucy J Parry Lucy J Parry recognises the value of a database of democracy but is concerned about its utility in the real world. If this data mountain is to bolster democratic innovation, we need to step away from detached order and engage with the messy reality of democratic innovations in practice Read more
July 8, 2022

🦋 The butterfly effect: representation as fractal politics

Alex Prior What does a coastline have in common with effective rhetoric? Each component resembles something bigger, and bigger, and bigger. And what can this sort of fractal pattern show us about politics? To Alex Prior, fractals illustrate successful representation, and the impulses that drive it Read more
June 28, 2022

🦋 How to get to the core of democracy

Toralf Stark Toralf Stark, Norma Osterberg-Kaufmann and Christoph Mohamad-Klotzbach elaborate on their proposal for a global concept of democracy. To do so, they move away from the institutional perspective to identify a normative good of democracy, which they refer to as the singular core principle – political self-efficacy. Read more
June 9, 2022

🦋 The best use of our limited resources in service of democracy?

Ramon van der Does Jean-Paul Gagnon views the construction of a taxonomy of democracy as a key way to address challenges to democracy. Yet, argues Ramon van der Does, such fundamental research is a luxury we cannot afford if we seek to be effective in bringing power to the people. Read more
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

The Loop

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Advancing Political Science
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