Democratic Dialogue Research Articles

Guns, Schools, and Democracy: Adolescents Imagining Social Futures Through Speculative Civic Literacies

This article analyzes how guns emerged as both urgent topics of dialogue and common features of everyday life for 228 students and their teachers in six communities across the United States who participated in the Digital Democratic Dialogue (3D) Project, a year long social design-based experiment aimed at foregrounding youth voice and fostering connection across lines of geographic and ideological difference. We trace the myriad ways that guns literally and discursively shaped the multiple ecological contexts of the 3D Project in order to detail youth sociopolitical learning and extend traditional models of civic education. We propose a paradigm of speculative civic literacies that privileges a collaborative push toward democratic interrogation and innovation over integration into existing civic and political structures.

Conformity, polarization, and democratic dialogue in times of pathogen threats. Germany and the United States during Covid-19

Conformity, polarization, and democratic dialogue in times of pathogen threats. Germany and the United States during Covid-19

The Perilously Racist Carceral System in America and Its Perpetuation of Police Brutality against Black People

Abstract This article discusses various issues of race and law enforcement in the USA through the lenses of critical race theory and Black radical tradition, precisely to convey the fact that racism is still alive and well in the USA and reverberates through the criminal justice system against Black people. American legal scholars are divided on which legal methodology is most appropriate in addressing racial cum legal issues. However, this article argues that tackling the systemic racism and the perilous proclivity of the police in brutalizing Black people in the USA cannot be adequately achieved through the current (mainstream) frameworks of rule of law and democracy because, arguably, these institutions were erected on the foundations of slavery and racism to principally serve the interests of White Americans. Using legal storytelling, the article narrates specific cases of police brutality and amplifies the voices of critical race theorists that racism in the USA cannot truly be dismantled solely via democratic dialogues and legal formalism as the mainstream view tends to always suggest. It posits that the hefty intellectual effort required to positively bend the mainstream towards realizing the constitutional rights of Black people in the USA can only be shouldered on Black radicalism and ‘racial realism’, as Derrick Bell, Cedric Robinson, and other scholars have opined.

Documenting towards democratic early education curriculum in the Republic of Croatia

ABSTRACT Democratic society, which is developing in the Republic of Croatia, has aspired for a flexible and developmental curriculum oriented towards the individualization of the educational process, cooperation of all participants and positive communication. Such curriculum is enhanced by pedagogical documentation of the educational process, constructive dialogue, and critical reflection on continuous reflective practicums of educators. The outcome of such professional development of educators is the gradual equalization of democratic values in a stimulating learning context. The qualitative approach to the pedagogical practice of the early education curriculum has been changed and improved in three periods of research by action research through ethnographic records. The research was conducted in a Croatian kindergarten, and the results confirm the need to use pedagogical documentation, continuous and honest discussions of educators during which the democratic dialogue raises the level of professional development of educators, and consequently the development of democratic values in children.

How to involve a diverse group of young people in local government decision making: A case study of Danish youth councils

ABSTRACT Following ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989, councils involving young people have become widespread, both in developed and developing countries. However, these councils are said to reflect the hierarchical nature of parliamentary and representative democracy, leading to tokenistic participation. Studies on the formal structures of youth participation have tended to focus on their failings and reveal little about structures and processes that might encourage youth participation. To address this gap, this paper examines three youth councils in Denmark and argues that the structures of these youth councils – referred to as ‘dialogic democracy’ in this paper – are what encourage effective participation, ensure the fairness of decision-making processes and develop young people’s citizenship skills so that they can have agency in the arena of local policy. Crucially, dialogic democracy can be seen as a form of informal learning, with peer learning being central. Lessons can therefore be drawn for developing citizenship education programmes in other national contexts.

Conflict Dynamics between Two Neighbours: Looking Beyond Federalism

Ethiopia is a multicultural and multilingual country. The Oromo and Somali communities are found in the same linguistic community, that is, the Cushitic language. Historically, Somalis and Oromo have a long tradition of co-existence and strong socio-cultural interactions, as well as antagonistic relationships and intermittent conflicts. Traditionally, the major sources of conflict between the two communities were competition over scarce resources, territorial expansion, livestock raids and counter raids, kidnapping for marriage purposes and the revenge tradition. However, this time the conflict took a different nature, form and bigger scale causing devastation never seen in the history of communal conflict in the country. The study has utilised primary and secondary data collection and employed narration and content analysis to realise the objective of the paper. The findings of this study reveal that the causes of the Oromo–Somali conflict are complex and dynamic. This urges the need to carry out a deeper investigation beyond the federal arrangement. Thus, fundamental and triggering factors including the involvement of internal and external forces, the collapse of social norms and prevalence of moral anarchism, socio-economic issues, competing interests among public and military officials, poor leadership and governance system, competing interests over resources, aspects of local cultural institutions in regulating inter-ethnic relationships are identified in fuelling ethnic conflict in the studied area. Since the conflict in the region is much more complex than the dominant narrative of resource scarcity and ethnic politicisation, open democratic dialogue, genuine consultation and negotiation at a different level with various interest groups, stakeholders and community representatives, militant groups operating in the area is of paramount importance to ease the increasing ethnic tension and political crisis in order to build sustainable peace in the region.

Teens Challenged to Re-think the Concept of European Identity in the Museum

Museums seek to be places for democratization, inclusion and polyphony. In this paper we present the multimodal conversations of the participating adolescents in the course of a museum pedagogical program in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete. The program’s topic is Europe and the concept of European identity. Firstly, we prepare the ground through creating an environment of safety and confidence, and next, together with our groups we study the selected artworks, following the routines of ‘Artful Thinking’, which propose the development of critical thinking through specific questions. This process reinforces reflective thinking and skills of participating in a dialogue. Our aim is to describe and share how a museum through its collections and programs can constitute a space where democratic dialogue and healthy debate are cultivated. In this space, everybody is invited to participate in inquiring, reflecting on self, answering, sharing, with and through the art.

Sustaining teacher engagement in practitioner research

ABSTRACT This study of nine Primary School teachers of Religious Education (RE) analyses the benefits of their engagement in practitioner research (PR) and shows how that engagement can be sustained. We demonstrate the importance of enhancing the social dimension of learning through forming a community-of-practice (CoP) that enables participants to gain confidence and engage in democratic dialogue. The CoP in our project was sustained because teachers built trust with each other, were willing to talk openly about their practices and, through their common commitment to RE, contributed to the knowledge base of teaching. We conclude that engaging teachers in PR can create positive changes for schools because knowledge, interrogated by critical reflection, will be rooted in teachers’ professional understanding of the processes of teaching and learning. Further, that communities-of-practice, as social learning environments, assist in sustaining teachers’ engagement in PR by creating opportunities for teachers’ collaborative critical reflection on their taken-for-granted professional practices.

The political information environment in Denmark 2.0

The article analyzes and discusses recent developments in the political information environment in Denmark, understood as the supply of and demand for political news and political information in a given society. The article focuses on the supply of and demand for (political) news by traditional news media and alternative news media, as offered offline, online and on social media. The article shows that leading traditional news media are still the cornerstone of Danish news consumption, but also that users with lower levels of education and income from outside the Copenhagen area access traditional news outlets less frequently than the rest of the population. For social media, the analysis shows that Facebook remains the dominant social media platform in Denmark. At the same time, only 13 percent of Danish citizens consider “social media” as their most important source of news. Finally, the analysis of the Danish alternative media landscape shows that the monopoly position of traditional news media as a provider of news and views to a wide audience is increasingly challenged by a very heterogeneous group of new online media that includes hyperpartisan media, slow news media and debate-oriented media. The article concludes by discussing how the changes in the political information landscape can affect the democratic dialogue in Denmark.

Open, Equal, Democratic Dialogue: These Are the Principles on Which We Develop PACE

Open, Equal, Democratic Dialogue: These Are the Principles on Which We Develop PACE

Operationalising dialogic accounting education through praxis and social and environmental accounting: exploring student perspectives

ABSTRACT Higher accounting education tends to be monologic and uphold a ‘hidden curriculum’ based on neoliberal and neoclassical economic assumptions that prioritise financial stakeholders’ concerns and profit maximisation. This informs what is regarded as teachable knowledge in accounting education, and how this is taught. Critical accounting researchers have urged educators/researchers to adopt dialogic pedagogical approaches to reimagine how accounting can facilitate democratic dialogue about the range of practices it covers; expose students to divergent socio-political perspectives on accountability; and promote critical reflection and transform their understandings of their lived realities. Our research is situated within the critical Social and Environmental Accounting (SEA) literature and the potential of a dialogic accounting pedagogy. Through student interviews and reflections from educators, we explore the design and implementation of a third-year accounting course containing a SEA component, and its potential for achieving the aspirations of dialogic pedagogy, and how this can be developed and implemented.

A “ideia plana” e a repulsa ao Outro

Buscamos analisar a forma da ideia que move o discurso do presidente do Brasil, Jair Bolsonaro, e dos seus filhos. Incluímos os filhos do presidente por conta de uma característica peculiar do atual governo brasileiro: os filhos, Flávio, Carlos e Eduardo, participam ativamente dos negócios da República, sejam influenciando o pai em decisões administrativas, por exemplo, na nomeação e queda de ministros, ou atuando juntos nas redes sociais da família com mensagens aos seus seguidores. Partimos das noções de verdade e opinião dos filósofos Leszek Kolakowski, John Dewey e Hannah Arendt; construímos a noção de “ideia plana” a partir das obras de Roland Barthes e Anselm Strauss e incorporamos a visão de autoritarismo pela literatura de Vassili Grossman, Edwin A. Abbot e Mikhail Bulgákov. Nosso trabalho apresenta a forma “plana” da ideia tanto como uma visada do populismo bolsonarista, de fácil comunicação de sentidos, quanto do seu traço autoritário, posto ser forma fechada ao diálogo democrático. Ideia no singular porque remete à verdade única, não admitindo que outras “ideias” possam conviver no mundo da vida.

DEMOCRACIA ALGORITMICA:

Resumo: O uso de fórmulas algorítmicas para minerar dados extraídos das redes sociais, para elaborar perfis e induzir escolhas na política, além de resvalar na privacidade, reduz o debate de ideias que formam o pensamento livre, transformando as democracias em vultos espectrais. Esse cenário de disrupção, de hashtagzição da vida coletiva reduzindo o diálogo a rosnados coléricos e fake news, facilitou a desinformação e criou ambiente fértil para as milícias digitais, maquinaria da guerrilha política virtual para ganhar preferência dos eleitores indecisos. Indagando sobre o futuro da democracia nesses quadrantes, o presente artigo busca conceituar e caracterizar tais organizações, que desafiam o sistema de justiça analógico, desconectado da velocidade e estratégias dessa nova realidade. A abordagem do financiamento dessas organizações por grupos de empresários, além da irrigação de recursos públicos oriundos de gabinetes parlamentares, também oferece reflexões sobre o controle do abuso do poder político e econômico que impactam as eleições.

Judicial Review and Parliamentary Debate: Enriching the Doctrine of Due Deference

Recent cases in the European Court of Human Rights have placed greater emphasis on the quality of legislative debate when determining whether to apply the margin of appreciation to the decisions of member States. This paper explores how courts in general might go about assessing the quality of legislative debate about rights, and presents a set of criteria against which such debate can be assessed. While pushing at the boundaries of constitutional orthodoxy, this paper looks ahead to a framework of democratic dialogue where sovereignty is shared between courts, Parliament and other constitutional organs. In this context, it argues that courts ought to defer where certain criteria are met in the process of parliamentary deliberation on the rights questions which come before them.

“Soft” TQM and Performance of Local Government (A Case Study of Municipality of Tirana, Albania)

Nowadays, the philosophy of organizational management with the client at the center of managerial policies and operations, has been mastered not only by profitable organizations but also non-profit ones. Central and local government bodies, mainly in developed countries, have successfully applied consumer-oriented management philosophy. Quality management is one of the disciplines, equipped with all the theoretical and practical arsenal for the successful implementation of this orientation. It is being used as a productive and innovative tool, to achieve the objectives of profit and non-profit organizations. Providing quality services by local units means increasing the satisfaction of service beneficiaries (individual or organization), creating trust through transparent processes, accountability and democratic dialogue. The aim of this study is to assess the level of implementation of "soft" elements of Total Quality Management [TQM] according to the perception of employees in local units in the city of Tirana and its impact on performance.

The Application of the Structured Democratic Dialogue to Generate Action Plans for a Successful Integration Process in Swedish-Speaking Ostrobothnia

In a previous study on integrating minority groups in Ostrobothnia in 2019, one of the most influential challenges was that Finland was not including native Finns in the integration process. This finding was made using the structured democratic dialogue (SDD). For the present study, the same participatory methodology was applied, wherein 12 participants from diverse socio-economical, cultural, and educational background who reside in Ostrobothnia were brought together to explore feasible action plans to facilitate the inclusion of Finns in the integration process in the city of Vaasa in this region of Finland. The participants generated 66 action plans categorized under eight clusters. Based on the influence map generated by participants, Action #62 stated that the most influential one was “All projects are inclusive”. Action #55 stated, “Balanced representation of all the people (Finns, minorities and foreigners) in the political parties” and Action #49 stated, “Social-emotional education curriculum” were perceived as having great influence on other actions. Thus, drawing from the results of this SDD Co-Lab, these action plans should be considered priorities in order to successfully include Finns in the integration process. The low number of participants and the narrow representation of some minority groups are limitations of this study.

The level playing field of Hungarian social partners before and during the COVID-19 pandemic : Case studies from the automotive industry

For numerous reasons, social dialogue in Hungary generally does not fulfil its role on the national, sectoral, or workplace level. Social dialogue as a democratic process is dysfunctional, since its institutions and mechanisms are not implemented democratically, and no real dialogue or actual debate take place. Instead, these mechanisms work in a top-down manner – the illiberal state and its central governing bodies expect certain solutions and answers, leaving no scope for transparent democratic dialogue with the relevant social partners. Against this background, in 2019 major strike activity was witnessed in the automotive sector. However, in 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hungarian government deployed its full power by adopting the ‘Authorization Act,’ which allowed the government to introduce significant restrictions, practically without any time limits, any debate in parliament, or guarantee of swift and effective constitutional review. Our research paper investigates these recent developments in social dialogue using a case study, with the aim of understanding the forces underlying the collective action organized in the automotive sector. Our research demonstrates that, due to the lack of institutional guarantees, social dialogue is very fragile in Hungary, and the landslide victory in 2019 was a mere reflection of labour shortages. Our mixed methodology – which combines legal and sociological approaches – is suitable for examining this complex issue; interviews conducted with representatives of labour and employers provide deep insight into motives and action in a circumvented level playing field.

Reflections on creating democratic dialogue between academic researchers during a pandemic

Reflections on creating democratic dialogue between academic researchers during a pandemic

Human biography – the arena of democratic negotiations

The subject-matter of this paper is an attempt to outline the type of relationship that exists between democracy and the autonomous and responsible individual as a necessary pre-con dition for a real and genuine community. The author’s reflections are focused around the idea that onlya conscious, inner-directed and mature individual can guarantee a solid foundation for the rules and practice of democracy and that human biography is the actual arena of democratic negotiations constantly being undertaken.

Biografia człowieka – arena demokratycznych negocjacji

The subject-matter of this paper is an attempt to outline the type of relationship that exists between democracy and the autonomous and responsible individual as a necessary pre-condition for a real and genuine community. The author’s reflections are focused around the idea that onlya conscious, inner-directed and mature individual can guarantee a solid foundation for the rules and practice of democracy and that human biography is the actual arena of democratic negotiations constantly being undertaken.