ABSTRACT

The establishment of democracy on both sides of the Atlantic has not been a smooth evolution towards an idealized presumed endpoint. Far from it, democratization has been marked by setbacks and victories, a process often referred to as ‘contested democracy’. In view of recent mobilizations such as the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, in which new technologies have played a key role, there is a need for a renewed analysis of the long-term evolution of US and UK political systems.

Using new areas of research, this book argues that the ideals and the practices of Anglo-American democracy can be best understood by studying diverse forms of participation, which go beyond classical expressions of contestation and dissent such as voting. The authors analyze political parties, social movements, communications and social media, governance, cultural diversity, identity politics, public-private actors and social cohesion to illustrate how the structure and context of popular participation play a significant role in whether, and when, citizens´ efforts have any meaningful impact on those who exercise political power. In doing so, the authors take crucial steps towards understanding how a vigorous public sphere and popular sovereignty can be made to work in today’s global environment.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, British and US history, democracy, political participation, governance, social movements and politics.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

“Contested democracy”: A critical evaluation

part I|55 pages

Contested definitions of democracy

chapter 1|12 pages

Rethinking 1828

The emergence of competing democracies in the United States

chapter 4|15 pages

Is equality the goal?

Challenging economic inequality in the US and UK

part II|55 pages

Who participates?

chapter 5|12 pages

Democracy

America's other “peculiar institution”

chapter 6|12 pages

Undocumented immigrants, from pariahs to citizens?

Mobilizations and arguments in favour of inclusion

chapter 7|14 pages

Productive protest?

The contested higher education reforms in England under the Coalition Government

chapter 8|15 pages

A tale of polarizations

Stress, inertia and social change in the New Gilded Age

part III|75 pages

Governance and the management of democratic processes

chapter 9|14 pages

Public participation, planning and housing

A changing balance of power?

chapter 10|15 pages

The English regions since 1994

Decentralization and the contested terrain of territorial governance

chapter 11|14 pages

The European Citizens' Initiative

The influence of Anglo-American governance ideology on recent EU institutional reforms

chapter 12|15 pages

Channeling Indigenous contestation of uranium mining in Australia

Legislation, negotiation, co-optation

chapter 13|15 pages

Partners not protesters?

Managing contests to traditional democracy through expanded public input into political decision-making

part IV|86 pages

A changing public sphere

chapter 14|22 pages

Contested boundaries of representation

Patterns of transformation in black petitioning in Massachusetts, 1770–1850

chapter 15|13 pages

Social networks and democracy

Fightbacks and backlashes in the world wide agora

chapter 16|17 pages

Local democracy and public spaces in contest

Graffiti in San Francisco 1

chapter 17|17 pages

A faux-public sphere

Liberty Mutual markets an online conversation economy for citizen-consumers

chapter 18|15 pages

Social media and political activism

Breaking the offline and online division

chapter |6 pages

Concluding remarks

Does democracy have a future?