Introduction: Challenges to Democracy as a Way of Life

Abstract

Introduction:Challenges to Democracy as a Way of Life Zach VanderVeen There is a textbook definition of democratic citizenship and collective action in which politics is a kind of game played by elites (e.g., Wasserman 2010). On this model, which is detailed by thinkers like Schumpeter (1942) and Lippmann ([1922] 1997) and often assumed by political scientists (Fung 2007), citizens must be informed voters, and this exhausts their role in acting collectively. Governments deal with social problems and are only informed by the democratic will of the populus. Asking more from citizens is either unrealistic, due to limitations of ability or time of the average citizen; coercive, since requiring a great deal from citizens may infringe upon their right to privacy; or dangerous, because an engaged citizenry has been associated with mob rule or the tyranny of a minority. Though this image of citizenship is a powerful one, it has faced challenges both practical and theoretical. First, the seeming inability of governments to solve long-standing problems, including economic stability, environmental conservation, the education of youths, the health of citizens, and urban sprawl, has led to a proliferation of grassroots, nongovernmental, and hybrid organizations (Sievers 2006). The explosion of experiments in education—including high-profile organizations like the Knowledge Is Power Program and other initiatives supported by the Bill [End Page 309] and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as community-based approaches, such as integration efforts in Louisville, Kentucky—exemplify this trend in just one area, which has even spread to institutions of higher education (Bloch-Schulman and Jovanovic 2010). Many other examples could be added, including community-based justice movements (Dzur 2008), new media organizations (Benkler 2006), public-private urban development coalitions (Briggs 2008), and development assistance organizations (Ellerman 2005). The model of citizenship described by Schumpeter and Lippmann has come under theoretical scrutiny as well. Deliberative democrats, for example, argue that while fair voting procedures and a balance of power are necessary for achieving democratic legitimacy, they are insufficient. The quality of people's preferences matters, and contemporary media and political machines have had a detrimental effect on public opinion (Adorno and Horkheimer [1944] 2002; Habermas 1996). Furthermore, the "fact of reasonable pluralism" suggests that simply aggregating preferences that express deep value disagreements, rather than working through them in some manner, is likely to lead to political instability (Rawls 1993; for a different take, see McAfee 2004). In a related vein, political scientists like Elinor Ostrom (1990) and Robert Putnam (2000) have drawn attention to civil society and the empirical evidence that the quality of citizens' relationships impacts their ability to determine their collective futures. In short, a growing number of scholars and practitioners are questioning the supremacy of democracy as a form of government and are exploring democracy as a "way of life," as John Dewey (1988), following Jane Addams ([1902] 2002), termed it. According to this distinction, effective problem solving may require responses in policy and law as well as in the norms, relationships, and activities of citizens and other decentralized agents. Addams called for a "social ethic" not simply because she found people to be acting too individualistically but because she thought that, given changed material and social conditions, industrializing nations needed to experiment with new habits or ethoi for which governments could be no substitute. If there are reasons, both theoretical and practical, for rethinking the meaning of democratic citizenship and collective action, it is natural to consider the institutions and relationships that could form a basis for a richer form of democracy, or self-rule. Since different problems will require different solutions, it seems unlikely that one could deduce the necessary [End Page 310] and sufficient conditions of democracy as a way of life. Instead, and especially at this early stage of inquiry, it may prove most useful to examine a few different social problems and the challenges that exist in resolving them. It is for this reason that the authors featured in this special issue of the Journal of Speculative Philosophy were asked to contribute the original pieces found here. In her contribution, Nobel Prize-winner Elinor Ostrom examines some of the difficulties facing those interested in managing natural resources. She...