Lexington Books
Pages: 252
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-0-7391-1028-7 • Hardback • May 2005 • $117.00 • (£90.00)
978-0-7391-1809-2 • Paperback • September 2006 • $51.99 • (£40.00)
Majid Behrouzi holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from York University, Canada. In addition to philosophy, he has also studied mathematics and engineering and holds advanced degrees in these fields. He currently teaches mathematics and philosophy in Cleveland.
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Conceptualizing Democracy as the Idea of the Political Empowerment of the Citizen
Chapter 3 A Different Kind of Collective Decision-Making Scheme
Chapter 4 A Realistic Democratic Utopia
Chapter 5 The Theory of Direct-Deliberative e-Democracy
Chapter 6 Conclusion
The effort to construct a positive alternative to social/rational choice theory is highly welcome. . . . The scholarship is first-rate. This is the strength of the manuscript. . . . The scope of the literature covered is broad, and there is also remarkable depth of coverage in all sections . . . a fresh approach to confronting social choice theorists and economic theorists of democracy who are skeptical of the democratic accuracy of voting, preference aggregation, and interest-representation.
— Richard Wellen, professor of social sciences, York University (Canada)
Democracy as the Political Empowerment of the Citizen: Direct-Deliberative e-Democracy proposes a creative new way to reconcile participatory democracy with the reality of large-scale mass society at the beginning of the 21st century. It attempts to harness new interactive technologies to the existing representative institutions of liberal democracy. A useful addition to the literature on democratic theory.
— Philip Resnick, professor of political science, University of British Columbia
Majid Behrouzi's exhaustive and illuminating account of democracy as the 'rule by the people' takes on increased importance with new demands, in the U.S. and around the world, for citizens' substantive participation in the democratic process. Behrouzi puts pressure on democracy to live up to its full ideal and exposes those conceptions of democracy that betray its promise. In his second volume, he finds the solution in e-democracy—a stunning account backed by a genuinely illuminating and full theory.
— Joseph P. DeMarco, professor of philosophy, Cleveland State University
Attempts to resolve the theoretical problems of Rousseau's general will through the technical means provided by various modern technologies. [Behrouzi] concludes that direct-deliberative e-democracy can technologically resolve 'some of the important questions that have dogged political philosophy for the longest time.' Clearly written and accessible to undergraduates. Highly Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above.
— Choice Reviews
Behrouzi's Democracy as the Political Empowerment of the Citizen: Direct-Deliberative e-Democracy offers a careful account of how modern technology and existing socio-economic infrastructure can be harnessed to achieve genuine democracy in the United States. Building on the companion volume, Democracy as the Political empowerment of the Citizen: The Betrayal of an Ideal, Behrouzi argues that the ideal of democracy as the sovereignty of the people cannot be represented but can be empowered by individual citizens exercising their individuated sovereign powers directly. Through developments such as e-technologies, Behrouzi argues optimistically that our generation is in the unique position to be able to establish the first feasible democratic society in history.
— Lesley Jacobs, professor of law and society and director of the Graduate Program in Social and Political Thought, York University