Democratic Engagement Research Articles

Changing Public Opinion and Politics in the Social Media Era

Public opinion and politics have seen a drastic transformation as a result of the emergence of social media platforms in the digital era. This study reveals the complex mechanisms by which social media platforms impact public opinion and drive political debate through an in-depth examination of user-generated material, qualitative research, and quantitative surveys. The results show how effective social media is at quickly conveying information, promoting political mobilization, and raising the voices of those who are neglected. However, social media also has drawbacks like the growth of feedback networks, the occurrence of filter bubbles, and the diffusion of false information. The study highlights the significance of addressing these issues while utilizing social media's potential to promote informed and inclusive democratic engagement. Understanding the causes causing these shifts will help society manage the shifting environment and work towards a social media-era republic that is more powerful and participative.

Advancing Democratic Engagement in Indonesia's Treaty Ratification Process

This study explores the application of the 'meaningful participation' principle in the formation of laws ratifying international agreements in Indonesia, with a focus on social, economic, and environmental sectors. The research adopts a normative legal methodology, utilizing statutory and conceptual approaches to analyze relevant legislation, court decisions, and academic literature. The findings reveal a significant imbalance in public participation in the ratification process, primarily characterized by a top-down approach with minimal substantive dialogue with affected community groups. Despite constitutional provisions allowing the President to establish agreements without ratification, meaningful public participation in legislative and ratification processes remains limited. The study emphasizes the need for open public consultations, active involvement of non-governmental organizations, and private sector engagement to achieve policies that reflect the comprehensive interests and aspirations of the populace. It highlights the importance of community involvement, transparency, economic-environmental balance, and inclusive approaches in influencing meaningful participation levels. The research calls for recommendations to the Government and Parliament to foster more qualitative and significant public participation in the ratification process, aligning Indonesia with international principles of meaningful participation in social, economic, and environmental law. This approach is crucial for Indonesia, as the world's third-largest democracy, to promote meaningful public participation in policy-making, especially in ratifying international agreements impacting the broader society.
 Highlights:
 
 Imbalanced Participation: Dominance of a top-down approach with minimal public dialogue in treaty ratification.
 NGOs and Private Sector: Essential roles in representing diverse societal interests in legislative processes.
 Legal and Democratic Alignment: Need for transparent and inclusive law-making, balancing economic and environmental aspects.
 
 Keywords: Meaningful Participation, International Treaty Ratification, Public Involvement, Legislative Process, Indonesian Democracy

Engaging with the Elusiveness of Violent Extremism in Norwegian Schools – The Promise and Potential of Agonistic Listening

ABSTRACT The issue of violent extremism has given rise to new policy debates in Norway. A key limitation of these debates, often grounded in naïve assumptions about the peacebuilding effect of education, is the downplay of emotions and dissent in democratic engagement. This article analyses how selected educators in Norway describe encountering and engaging with extremist students for educational interventional purposes. Previous research suggests that educational efforts to counter violent extremism can be exclusionary from the perspective of target audiences. In contrast, this study draws on agonistic pluralism to provide an alternative to understand educational approaches that may help students disengage from violent extremism. The findings show that the selected educators argue the importance of trust, support and tolerance when engaging with extremist students. For these professionals, education should not downplay radical or extreme emotions but rather place them at the centre of educational engagement. Furthermore, it is suggested that educators’ empathic engagement may open the path for young people to disengage from violent extremism.

For and against climate capitalism

AbstractThis paper starts from the point that our current political‐economic‐climate conjuncture demands new engagements at the dynamic interface of climate capitalism. Using two cases of climate capitalist responses to climate challenges, I demonstrate the reparative potentials that emerge from the tensions and ambiguities that typify that conjuncture. In the first case, I examine financialised climate infrastructure in Jakarta, Indonesia, that promises to protect the city from flooding while enriching city elites, but against which diverse social movements and collectives have organised. The second case is about a cooperative energy provider in Australia, operating on the terrain of a neoliberalised electricity market and climate change, and working towards multifaceted repair by collectivising and redistributing surplus and modelling democratic engagement. Those involved in these vastly different cases both pursue repair and reparations through climate capitalist projects by reckoning with historical and present climate debts while constructing forward‐looking programs. As such, they chart the first steps towards reparative climate futures.

Localising and democratising goal-based governance for sustainability

Accelerating social and environmental change raises pressing questions about how existing institutions can be reformed to mount a more effective response. In this context, goal-based governance has been widely adopted in order to mobilise existing bodies to agree shared goals and develop common purpose. Increasingly employed in sustainability governance at the international scale, goal-based governance concerns setting pan-organisational goals and mobilising to deliver them. There is growing recognition that this approach needs to be downscaled to the local level in ways that can increase democratic engagement in order to realise significant change. This paper examines the opportunities and challenges involved in doing this in Cornwall, UK. We draw on collaborative research with representatives from statutory organisations as well as civic and civil society to highlight: (1) the significance of institutional structures, culture and relationships; (2) the need to adopt innovative participatory methods to engage and enlist civic and civil society organisations in goal-setting; and (3) the importance of ensuring delivery. The paper explores the extent to which local institutions can engage in goal-based and collaborative governance to respond to the challenges of sustainability in ways that reflect specific geo-political and cultural contexts as well as responding to international demands for greater sustainability. The findings provide insights that have relevance for other contexts as local leaders experiment to better recognise, reflect and respond to the social, ecological and political challenges of our time.

Evaluating and Designing Active Citizenship Education for Youth Resilience to Preventing Violent Extremism at Public Sector General Universities of Sindh, Pakistan

Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in Pakistan have experienced unprecedented on-campus violent extremism. Large-scale research led approach is needed to prevent homegrown violent extremism through transformative active citizenship education at HEIs in Pakistan taking into account that youth under the age of 30 constitutes 63% of the total population of Pakistan. As recognized repeatedly by the UN Security Council, violent extremism poses a significant threat to global peace and stability, with tremendous impact on social cohesion, eroding development progress and hindering future gains. This paper assesses the current state of citizenship education at Higher Education Institutes in Sindh province. The problem, however, is that many countries, including Pakistan, do not give citizenship education the importance it deserves, nor use approaches appropriate to the development of informed and participatory citizenship. (Dean, 2000; Kerr, McCarthy, and Smith 2002; Torney-Purta and Amadeo 1999). Citizenship active citizenship in youth is a social leadership program that promotes intercultural dialogue and social responsibility as key leadership competencies in the 21st century and results in community resilience. For this purpose, institutionalizing active citizenship for developing youth resilience to violent extremism warrants a massive radical reform of the education system to develop critical analysis skills among youth enabling them challenge violent extremist narratives. This is a preventive and initiative-taking strategy to develop active citizenship to be capitalized as glue for social inclusivity, integration and national cohesiveness in Pakistan. Active citizenship encompassing volunteering, democratic engagement, environmental sustainability, community development and reflective thinking is most likely to prevent vulnerability to recruitment of violent extremist organizations.

The Growing Complexity of a Human Right to Assemble and Protest Peacefully in the United Kingdom

Policing demonstrations is difficult, and prosecuting people for public order offences arising from protests may risk closing down some channels for democratic engagement. In the United Kingdom, delicate judgements by police, prosecutors and courts have become still more complex as a result of the domestic application, under the Human Rights Act 1998 (UK), of the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly under the European Convention on Human Rights. When is it permissible to interfere with those rights in order to protect other interests and rights? When is it necessary to strike a balance between them, and who is responsible for doing so? What are the limits of the responsibilities of the police, prosecutors and judges or juries respectively to make judgements about the appropriate balance, and when may a defendant be allowed to say, in answer to a criminal charge, that criminal legislation should be read and given effect in such a way as to respect the defendant's right to freedom of expression or peaceful assembly so as to entitle the defendant to be acquitted? This article examines developments in policing and prosecutorial practice and in case law responding to those issues.

Play, Participate, Decide: The Emergence of Video Games as Tools for Political Participation

In recent decades, the incorporation of video games into the political context has sparked growing interest among scholars, politicians, and activists. This article proposes an analysis of the social dynamics and participatory processes that emerge from the interaction between video games and the political sphere. Through an interdisciplinary investigation that combines perspectives from political science, sociology, and media studies, this study explores how video games can influence the contemporary political landscape. It examines how video games have the ability to mobilize and engage a wide range of individuals, transforming how people approach politics and participate in public discourse. The analysis focuses on understanding the mechanisms that make video games a fertile ground for political expression and democratic engagement. It explores the ways in which video games can facilitate political discussion, promote social awareness, and foster active political participation. The article highlights the potential and challenges of using video games as political tools and explores possible future trajectories for this phenomenon.

Leadership education as democracy-in-action: In pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

With the world growing in complexity and interconnectedness, the demand for leaders equipped to solve compound problems will only increase. Higher education is called upon to develop leadership in students and needs to engage relevant tools and techniques to prepare students for the tasks ahead. Democratic engagement-from voter education and engagement to critical service learning-and leadership development are powerful vehicles for student development. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are effective and compelling tools to support student learning in academic and cocurricular arenas as part of democratic engagement and leadership education and development. The authors will explore some of the implications and considerations in advancing these initiatives and using these means to advance our local and global communities.

Adult Education, Futures Literacy, and Deep Democracy: Engaging Democratic Visioning and Anticipatory Futures For More Sustainable Futures

Adult education has historically played a role in modern democracies in support of civic participation and democratic engagement. In the context of a relatively stable and unchanging society, learning “about” and participating “in” the democratic process allow for tweaking the mechanisms of democracy. In present times, taken for granted democratic practices inadequately address the spirit of democracy as social and environmental changes undergo rapid and unanticipated changes. In the context of a past, present, and futures, democracy’s future/s is a vast, complex system that offers practical and inspirational hope to communal living. Anticipatory futures perspectives explore our relationships with the future beyond that of prediction to understand and develop human capacities to enact necessary and important changes for unknown and unanticipated futures. This paper explores the role of adult education in supporting a deep democracy approach for creating more sustainable, ecological, and just futures by developing our relationship with the broad spectrum of anticipatory futures.

Winner-takes-all Majoritarian System and Irregularities in Six Election Cycles in Nigeria, 1999 – 2019

The argument that Nigerian elections are characterized by electoral irregularities since the commencement of present democratic engagement in 1999 has not been sufficiently subjected to an analytical procedure to embrace the six Nigerian election cycles. The unsettled question of irregularities that have consistently dominated elections in Nigeria is interrogated in this study. The study situates the problem within the context of winner-takes-all majoritarian electoral system (MES) and queries the implementation of the MES-driven model in an environment of do-or-die politics, weak electoral institution, and 'glorification' of clandestine electoral strategies. It further argues that the model reinforces politicians’ use of subtle strategies to increase their odds of victory and pay less or not attention to their detrimental consequences on democratic development. The study is underpinned on personal experience as active participants in Nigerian elections and available textual documents. The analysis of data supports the argument that MES-model is poorly implemented in Nigeria and promotes the crude perception of politics as a zero-sum do-or-die contest. The present deplorable state of democracy in Nigeria is a function of irregularities and their consequential composites: life-taking elections, election disputes, and voter apathy, which has been in a downward fall since 2003. These findings suggest the need for voter-driven electoral reform that will reduce tension during elections and encourage inclusivity in Nigeria. The reform should be able to institutionalize Nigeria’s electoral body and check government interference in its activities, reduce the present huge election spending, ensure proportionate distribution of votes/positions, and make public offices less financially attractive.

Monarchy with ‘An air of republicanism spread throughout’: the reformed monarchy of the marquis d’Argenson

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the plan to reform the monarchy penned by René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d’Argenson (1694–1757), in the 1730s. D’Argenson laid out a forceful blueprint for reform that aimed to extend ‘democracy’ within the monarchy as far as possible. His plan would establish equality as a first-order political value, even if as a heuristic goal; dismantle the legacy of feudalism in France and thus reduce the power of the nobility; and institute what he called ‘popular administration under the authority of the sovereign’. The reforms d’Argenson hoped to enact would be animated by political values that were frequently associated with republics in the early modern political imagination, but d’Argenson never advocated the republic as a political form. To enact such far-reaching changes, d’Argenson called on the monarchy to reform itself, to wield its sovereign authority in order to promote equality and improve the lives of the population. D’Argenson’s treatise anticipated important themes and fault lines of modern French political thought, notably the combination of strong central authority with egalitarian reform and democratic engagement. It did so, however, while remaining rooted in the problems of the Old Regime and the political-philosophical arguments of his day.

Young People's Attitudes towards Democracy and Political Participation: Evidence from a Cross-European Study

AbstractSome scholars warn about democratic disaffection of young people potentially leading to processes of ‘democratic deconsolidation’. Conversely, others interpret young people's preference for non-conventional forms of participation as a manifestation of democratic renewal. We surveyed respondents from nine European countries and analysed differences in attitudes of opposition to democracy across age groups and how these preferences shape political mobilization. Our findings show that the youngest adult group is no less supportive of liberal democracy than older age groups. Second, although attitudes of opposition towards democracy decrease political mobilization, this association is independent of age. Thus, young people's critical views of democracy rarely translate into apathy for democracy. Finally, our results provide insights into intra-generational democratic attitude differences by showing how young people's individual attributes are likely to crystallize into different value configurations and patterns of democratic engagement over time but within specific contexts.

Housing publics: Situated resistance to public housing redevelopment in New York City under racial capitalism

In this paper, I describe resistance to a public housing redevelopment process in New York City. I describe the story within a theoretical approach of pragmatism, as I focus on both means and ends in planning while considering the experience and contestations of the various “publics” involved in deliberations surrounding a pilot site for mixed-income infill development. While pragmatism is helpful in reflecting on planning processes, I also simultaneously acknowledge the context of how racial capitalism has shaped and continues to impact the geography of the city, including public housing communities. As such, I propose that residents engaged in “situated resistance” as plans to radically transform the largest housing authority in the United States unfolded around them. I find that while the housing authority and residents had the same objective of preserving existing public housing, their desired paths to achieving that goal dramatically differed. I conclude by proposing that robust democratic engagement requires reparative approaches rooted in racial and economic justice that substantively and procedurally center African American communities such as those living in public housing. By introducing pragmatism alongside racial capitalism through the case of public housing redevelopment, I ultimately highlight the importance of fusing theories of democratic and structural change in urban redevelopment.

Petisi Online dan Keterampilan Partisipatoris Warga Negara

This study aimed to examine the efficacy of online petitions in enhancing citizen participation skills. Employing a quantitative approach with descriptive methods, the research focused on the population of active students enrolled in the Teaching and Education Faculty at Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University. Simple random sampling was utilized as the sampling technique. The validity and reliability of the data were assessed using the SPSS application version 26, while effectiveness was measured through the Likert Summarizing Rating (LSR) method. The findings indicated a significant level of effectiveness in developing citizen participatory skills through online petitions, as evidenced by the assessment score of 20.139 > Q2. The average ideal score demonstrated an overall research effectiveness percentage of 73%. These outcomes highlight the potential of online petitions to foster citizen engagement, as they encourage individuals to exhibit intellectually supported and active participation as citizens. Online petitions serve as a facilitator for citizens to raise and address pertinent issues, thereby aiding in the cultivation of civic skills. This research contributes to the understanding of the role and impact of online petitions in nurturing citizen participatory skills, emphasizing the importance of online platforms in promoting active citizenship and fostering democratic engagement.

Socially meaningful transparency in data-based systems: reflections and proposals from practice

PurposeThe purpose is to present proposals to foster what we call a socially meaningful transparency practice that aims to enhance public understanding of data-based systems through the production of accounts that are relevant and useful to diverse publics, and society more broadly.Design/methodology/approachThe authors’ proposals emerge from reflections on challenges they experienced producing written and visual accounts of specific public sector data-based systems for research purposes. Following Ananny and Crawford's call to see limits to transparency practice as “openings”, the authors put their experience into dialogue with the literature to think about how we might chart a way through the challenges. Based on these reflections, the authors outline seven proposals for fostering socially meaningful transparency.FindingsThe authors identify three transparency challenges from their practice: information asymmetry, uncertainty and resourcing. The authors also present seven proposals related to reduction of information asymmetries between organisations and non-commercial external actors, enhanced legal rights to access information, shared decision making about what gets made transparent, making visible social impacts and uncertainties of data-systems, clear and accessible communication, timing of transparency practices and adequate resourcing.Social implicationsSocially meaningful transparency aims to enhance public understanding of data-based systems. It is therefore a necessary condition not only for informed use of data-based products, but crucially for democratic engagement in the development of datafied societies.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to existing debates on meaningful transparency by arguing for a more social, rather than individual, approach to imagining how to make transparency practice more meaningful. The authors do this through their empirical reflection on our experience of doing transparency, conceptually through our notion of socially meaningful transparency, and practically through our seven proposals.

Democratic Justifications for Patient Public Involvement and Engagement in Health Research: An Exploration of the Theoretical Debates and Practical Challenges.

The literature on patient public involvement and engagement (PPIE) in health research has grown significantly in the last decade, with a diverse range of definitions and topologies promulgated. This has led to disputes over what the central functions and purpose of PPIE in health research is, and this in turn makes it difficult to assess and evaluate PPIE in practice. This paper argues that the most important function of PPIE is the attempt to make health research more democratic. Bringing this function to the fore and locating PPIE in the wider context of changes in contemporary forms of democratic engagement provides greater conceptual clarity over what PPIE in research should be trying to achieve. Conceptualizing PPIE as a form of democratization has a number of benefits. First, theories of what are appropriate, normatively justifiable and workable criteria for PPIE practices can be developed, and this can provide tools to address the legitimacy and accountability questions that have troubled the PPIE community. Second, this work can be used to form the basis of a research agenda to investigate how PPIE in health research operates, and how it can facilitate and/or improve democratic processes in health research.

Civic Engagement and Resisting “Docile Bodies” in Postsecondary Education

Background/Context: Robust civic engagement by young adults supports the aims of a democratic society, as well as college- and university-espoused commitments to the public good. Civic engagement also benefits students themselves. Although voting participation among young adults has shown modest increases from 2016 to 2020, work remains to be done to help youth become more engaged in civics. Postsecondary education has the tools to support this engagement among college students. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Postsecondary education has long sought to support young adults to participate in democratic society, despite the current dominance of a neoliberal focus on career and socioeconomic mobility outcomes. A realignment of goal-setting is necessary to recognize the need to do more than produce “docile bodies” for a neoliberal and capitalist labor market. Yet, colleges and universities struggle to center equity goals that would support radical democratic engagement. Research Design: This article is a philosophical analysis of the intersection of civic education, democracy, and equity in the postsecondary curriculum. Conclusions/Recommendations: The article concludes with four policy recommendations: (1) access to federal and state funding for postsecondary institutions for civic engagement initiatives; (2) support for the freedom to learn and the freedom to teach material grounded in equity principles, including critical race theory; (3) assessing civic education as a core learning outcome through collaborations between postsecondary education and government initiatives; and (4) protecting the methods by which young adults in college can participate in the electoral process.

ROLE OF DIGITAL PLATFORM IN CREATION OF PUBLIC SPHERE FOR LOCAL POLITICAL NEWS CONSUMPTION: A CASE STUDY OF DIGITAL NEWS PORTAL IN KODAGU DISTRICT

News Consumption through digital media brought disruption for consumption of news .No other media has reached many hands so far in such a Short Span. The political news consumption has become a core element of democratic engagement. 2020 saw demand pattern shift with acceleration in digital media adoption aided by the growth of digital media infrastructure. Digital and online gamings were the only segments which grew aggregate of INR 26 billion consequently their Contribution to the media and entertainment industry (FICCI report 2021).The specific objective of the study is to explore the number of news portal and to find out the content uploaded in such news portal. The study also tries to analyse the space provided in digital media for political news. A researcher used qualitative research method using content analysis as a research tool. Interview was conducted among 5 Journalist in kodagu district to investigate the research problem. Keywords: Digital Platform, Political news, Public Sphere, Kodagu District.

Fighting Fake News Proliferation Through Digital Literacy in Africa: Perspectives from Nigerian Netizens

ABSTRACT The emergence of social media and the Internet came with wide acceptance and enthusiasm. Yet, scholars and analysts are worried that despite their inherent benefits, one of the major drawbacks of these platforms is that they enable the propagation of fake news. While fake news is not confined to these platforms, it has become a serious issue for contemporary society given that these platforms allow people to obtain, convey, and spread information for social inclusion, democratic engagements, and other purposes. The degree to which disinformation can sabotage these prospects reinforces arguments regarding what ought to be done to mitigate digital dysfunction. Despite this concern, there are more anecdotal perspectives than empirical enquiries into fake news and digital literacy in the African (Nigerian) context. Therefore, using the Inoculation and Message Interpretation Process theories as our theoretical frameworks, and Focus Group Discussion as our research method, we explored the extent to which digital literacy or lack of it shaped the Nigerian netizens’ propensity to share fake news. Although sharing is not believing, as the participants suggest, the concerns about fake news proliferation across social media and the Internet warrant crucial conversations about how to encourage basic literacy in today's digital world, particularly in Africa. Thus, while the authors support the idea of digital literacy, they also caution that in itself, digital literacy is insufficient and may not go far enough in stopping fake news proliferation, yet it helps to minimise the spread.