Images Revisited – Postmodern Perceptions of Power and Democracy: Political Empowerment in the Danish Case

This article discusses postmodern perceptions of power and democracy based on a Danish study. Danes appear to have a nuanced perception of societal power and former and well known images of society seem out-faded. Politicians, media, capital, interest organisations and experts are all experienced as powerful. Most people, however, conceptualise power as being blurred, systemic and structural. Nevertheless, the Danes generally do not feel powerless or distant from power. Paradoxically, while experiences of power as 'system' are common, the actors appear to be both resourceful and active – there is a high degree of empowerment. Confidence in indi-vidual capacity to make a difference is considerable. Ordinary Danes seem to believe that it can pay to exercise one's influence – that one is able to make a difference.     

Power and Democracy in Denmark: Still a Viable Democracy

In its final report, the Danish Democracy and Power Study (1998–2004) pointed to a number of serious democratic problems such as declining political party membership, a growing gap between a competent and resourceful majority and a marginalised minority, the growing influence of the media, the transfer of power from the political to the judicial system, and the democratic deficit associated with European Union membership. However, the report also concluded that overall democratic development in the last 30–40 years has been surprisingly positive. This article assesses the development of democracy in Denmark in relation to the parliamentary chain of governance: the standard used in the final report of the majority of the Norwegian power study group. The conclusion is that, in the case of Denmark, democratic development has not – as the parliamentary committee initially expected – resulted in a systematic weakening of the parliamentary chain of governance.     

Communal Democracy and Liberal Democracy: An Outside Friend's Look at the Swiss Political Tradition

This article offers a brief overview of the history of Swisscommunal liberty. The author traces the development of key conceptsand practices, especially the use of covenant, that were employedto strengthen and expand the federation. The author then explainshow the cultural background of the peoples that settled Switzerlandcontributed to the formation of the polity. In a comparativeanalysis between liberal democracy and communal democracy, theauthor notes that the struggle to synthesize the conflict betweenthe theories and practices of these two forms of democracy hasbeen at the heart of Swiss politics for the last 200 years.     

Predispositions and the Political Behavior of American Economic Elites: Evidence from Technology Entrepreneurs

Economic elites regularly seek to exert political influence. But what policies do they support? Many accounts implicitly assume economic elites are homogeneous and that increases in their political power will increase inequality. We shed new light on heterogeneity in economic elites' political preferences, arguing that economic elites from an industry can share distinctive preferences due in part to sharing distinctive predispositions. Consequently, how increases in economic elites' influence affect inequality depends on which industry's elites are gaining influence and which policy issues are at stake. We demonstrate our argument with four original surveys, including the two largest political surveys of American economic elites to date: one of technology entrepreneurs—whose influence is burgeoning—and another of campaign donors. We show that technology entrepreneurs support liberal redistributive, social, and globalistic policies but conservative regulatory policies—a bundle of preferences rare among other economic elites. These differences appear to arise partly from their distinctive predispositions.     

Democracy and Political Scepticism: Comment on Bufacchi

The claim that democracy requires a particular type of political scepticism for its justification has an initial plausibility. The present article argues, however, that Bufacchi does not succeed in adequately identifying the relevant type of uncertainty. Secondly, it is claimed here that Bufacchi's analysis neglects a crucial element in the justification of democracy, namely, the positive evaluation of moral autonomy. When the role of autonomy is given its proper place epistemology becomes secondary, providing a basis not for scepticism but for a theory such as Rawls's theory of reasonable disagreement.     

Shaping the Evolution of the Information Flow: The Centralizing Mechanisms in the Evolution of the North American Tobacco Quitline Consortium

The research reported here is an analysis of the evolution of the relationships that comprise a single public health network, focusing especially on the position of the network administrative organization (Provan and Kenis 2008 Provan, K. G. and P. Kenis. 2008. “Modes of Network Governance: Structure, Management, and Effectiveness.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 18(2): 229–252.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in the flow of knowledge among a large number of organizations providing similar services. Our study examines the North American Quitline Consortium (NAQC), a multi-sector network that spans the US and Canada and whose members provide telephone-based tobacco cessation services to anyone interested in quitting smoking. Data were collected using web-based surveys at three different points of time. Implications are discussed for network organizing, for both theory and practice, focusing especially on the importance of the network administrative organization in shaping the evolution of the whole network information flow.     

政治文明与党内民主建设

民主政治是政治文明的一般性特征,是社会主义政治文明与资本主义政治文明的共同价值取向;坚持党的领导、人民当家作主和依法治国的有机统一是当代中国政治文明的特殊性要求;发展党内民主,健全民主集中制,是社会主义政治文明建设成败的关键。     

技术、空间和权力——米歇尔·福柯的技术政治哲学

福柯作为20世纪最有影响的政治哲学家之一,在其权力-知识概念内自然不会放过对技术这一重要的现代性现象进行哲学的思考,并从微观政治学视角把技术看作是人操控自身的“自我技术”。在此基础上,他进一步从全景敞视主义出发就工厂、医院、学校等空间单元讨论了技术与权力的特定关系,其政治批判直接指向的是任何情景化的技术都是对人体的权力控制并由此造就了作为技术权力效应的“肉体-机器”这一“敌托邦”。沿此政治批判线索,其追随者和其他学者更是把全景敞视主义方法拓展到了对实验室、工业区域、互联网络和基因技术等的政治哲学分析,从“生物-权力”视角提出诸如“半机械人”、“半生物人”等概念,由此显现新兴技术对人体产生的权力控制效应。为了激发对这种技术控制的有效对抗,福柯试图复兴一种具有“生存美学”特征的地方性知识或技术,以摆脱占据统治地位的技术权力控制。