Democracy and the Politics of Silence

Democracy and the Politics of Silence PDF Author: MONICA. BRITO VIEIRA
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780271098883
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
Most people equate democracy with discussion, speech, and making one's voice heard. But where does silence fit in? Democracy and the Politics of Silence investigates the largely overlooked role of silence in democratic politics. It challenges conventional wisdom by arguing that silence can support and affirm democratic pillars and outcomes like empowerment, inclusion, and equality. Rather than focusing on theory, Brito Vieira explores real-world examples, including the Silent Parade of African Americans in 1916, demonstrations by the Women in Black in Serbia and Falun Gong practitioners in China, Gandhi's political vows of silence, debates related to the representation and rights of nonhuman beings, and the famous Miranda judgment on the right to silence. Through these and other case studies, the author demonstrates how silence can be a means of building political community and resisting despotic rule. She reveals the power in silences, as well as their limitations, illuminating the complex relationship between speech and silence. In thus expanding the repertoire of democratic citizenship, Brito Vieira invites readers to consider what silence might teach them about democracy. This timely book should appeal to political science students and scholars as well as anyone interested in the history of democracies and popular resistance movements.

Silence and Democracy

Silence and Democracy PDF Author: John Zumbrunnen
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271047429
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book

Book Description
The role of elites vis-&à-vis the mass public in the construction and successful functioning of democracy has long been of central interest to political theorists. In Silence and Democracy, John Zumbrunnen explores this theme in Thucydides&’ famous history of the Peloponnesian War as a way of focusing our thoughts about this relationship in our own modern democracy. In Periclean Athens, according to Thucydides, &“what was in name a democracy became in actuality rule by the first man.&” This political transformation of Athenian political life raises the question of how to interpret the silence of the demos. Zumbrunnen distinguishes the &“silence of contending voices&” from the &“collective silence of the demos,&” and finds the latter the more difficult and intriguing problem. It is in the complex interplay of silence, speech, and action that Zumbrunnen teases out the meaning of democracy for Thucydides in both its domestic and international dimensions and shows how we may benefit from the Thucydidean text in thinking about the ways in which the silence of ordinary citizens can enable the domineering machinations of political elites in America and elsewhere today.

Silence and Democracy

Silence and Democracy PDF Author: John Zumbrunnen
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271033570
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Get Book

Book Description
The role of elites vis-&à-vis the mass public in the construction and successful functioning of democracy has long been of central interest to political theorists. In Silence and Democracy, John Zumbrunnen explores this theme in Thucydides&’ famous history of the Peloponnesian War as a way of focusing our thoughts about this relationship in our own modern democracy. In Periclean Athens, according to Thucydides, &“what was in name a democracy became in actuality rule by the first man.&” This political transformation of Athenian political life raises the question of how to interpret the silence of the demos. Zumbrunnen distinguishes the &“silence of contending voices&” from the &“collective silence of the demos,&” and finds the latter the more difficult and intriguing problem. It is in the complex interplay of silence, speech, and action that Zumbrunnen teases out the meaning of democracy for Thucydides in both its domestic and international dimensions and shows how we may benefit from the Thucydidean text in thinking about the ways in which the silence of ordinary citizens can enable the domineering machinations of political elites in America and elsewhere today.

Silent Citizenship

Silent Citizenship PDF Author: Justin Gest
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315458675
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 134

Get Book

Book Description
What does silent citizenship mean in a democracy? With levels of economic and political inequality on the rise across the developed democracies, citizens are becoming more disengaged from their neighbourhoods and communities, more distrustful of politicians and political parties, more sceptical of government goods and services, and less interested in voicing their frustrations in public or at the ballot box. The result is a growing number of silent citizens who seem disconnected from democratic politics – who are unaware of political issues, lack knowledge about public affairs, do not debate, deliberate, or take action, and most fundamentally, do not vote. Yet, although silent citizenship can and does indicate deficits of democracy, research suggests that these deficits are not the only reason citizens may have for remaining silent in democratic life. Silence may also reflect an active and engaged response to politics under highly unequal conditions. What is missing is a full accounting of the problems and possibilities for democracy that silent citizenship represents. Bringing together leading scholars in political science and democratic theory, this book provides a valuable exploration of the changing nature and form of silent citizenship in developed democracies today. This title was previously published as a special issue of Citizenship Studies.

Silence and Voice in the Study of Contentious Politics

Silence and Voice in the Study of Contentious Politics PDF Author: Ronald Aminzade
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521001557
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Get Book

Book Description
This book gives 'voice' to some of the notable 'silences' in the study of contentious politics.

Silence and Concealment in Political Discourse

Silence and Concealment in Political Discourse PDF Author: Melani Schröter
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027272107
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Get Book

Book Description
This book constitutes a significant contribution to political discourse analysis and to the study of silence, both from the point of view of discourse analysis as well as pragmatics, and it is also relevant for those interested in politics and media studies. It promotes the empirical study of silence by analysing metadiscourse about politicians’ silence and by systematically conceptualising the communicativeness of silence in the interplay between intention (to be silent), expectation (of speech) and relevance (of the unsaid). Three cases of sustained metadiscourse about silent politicians from Germany are analysed to exemplify this approach, based on media texts and protocols of parliamentary inquiries. Ideals of political transparency and communicative openness are identified as a basis for (disappointed) expectations of speech which trigger and determine metadiscourse about politicians’ silences. Finally, the book deals critically with the role of those who act as advocates of ‘the public’s’ demand to speak out.

Democratic Dialogue in Education

Democratic Dialogue in Education PDF Author: Megan Boler
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9780820463193
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book

Book Description
This collection brings into dialogue authors from a range of disciplines and perspectives to address the thorny question of how to balance the demands of «democratic dialogue» with the reality of a world in which each voice does not carry equal weight. Should rules be in place, for example, that correct for such imbalances by privileging some voices or muting others? Should separate spaces be created for traditionally disadvantaged groups to speak only among themselves? Is democratic dialogue in an inclusive sense even a possibility in a world divided by multiple dimensions of power and privilege? Leading theorists from several countries share a concern for social justice and present radically different interpretations of what democracy means for educational practice. In a format unusual for such collections, the essays speak directly to each other about significant moral, philosophical, and practical differences regarding how to effectively engage students as critical participants in classrooms fraught with power and difference. The authors draw from philosophy, critical race theory, sociology, feminist, and poststructural studies to address topics including hate speech, freedom of expression, speech codes, the meanings of silence, conceptions of voice and agency, and «political correctness». They explore honestly and self-critically the troubling and disturbing dimensions of speech and silence that situate the classroom as a volatile microcosm of contemporary political contradictions.

Breaking the Silence

Breaking the Silence PDF Author: G25 Malaysia (Organization)
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Limited
ISBN: 9789814677219
Category : Islam
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
A discussion of the impact of Islamic bureaucracy on Malaysian society and its consistency with the provisions of the Federal Constitution

Silent America

Silent America PDF Author: William Alfred Whittle
Publisher: Aurora Aerospace
ISBN: 9780976405900
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book

Book Description
Readers are invited to join the thousands who have laughed, cried, and found in "Silent America" the words they have been searching for to describe the wonder and pride they feel for America.

Politics and Guilt

Politics and Guilt PDF Author: Gesine Schwan
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803242807
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book

Book Description
Politics and Guilt sheds new light on our understanding of the pervasive psychological and cultural effects of Nazism by examining the power of guilt in modern Germany. Usually seen as a psychological and intensely personal phenomenon, the effect of guilt on the collective arena of politics has been downplayed or misunderstood by many political scientists. Taking issue with Hannah Arendt, Daniel Goldhagen, and Hermann L_bbe, Gesine Schwan argues that Germans must confront their Nazi past because the repression or lack of acknowledgment of guilt damages modern democracies. The Nazi perpetrators were not above the norms of good and evil, she asserts, but were conscious of their guilt and silent about it. The widespread psychological guilt in them and their descendents has adversely affected perceptions of political responsibility, marriage, and child rearing in modern Germany. ø At a moment when past crimes are being exposed, reparation demands are increasingly common, and world leaders are apologizing and making amends for past mistakes and injustices, Schwan's analysis is timely and thoughtful, standing as the most sophisticated consideration of guilt in politics to date.