The rapidly changing European political environment poses a big challenge not only to elected representatives but also to scholars. In the paper, the author elucidates the theoretical approaches to civic participation. Consequently, a theory of participatory democracy, which is heavily neglected in the Slovak academia, is presented through the prism of Carole Pateman’s, C.B. Macpherson’s and Benjamin Barber’s writings. Their ideas on civic engagement in public life appear to be noteworthy again, especially in the light of the changing conditions of democratic citizenship – particularly in regards to the EU-wide decline in voter turnout, increasing income inequality, downgrade of social solidarity and cooperation, growing intolerance or dissatisfaction with representative democracy.
A deliberative democracy represents one of the most discussed concepts in contemporary political science. It is believed that is rooted in the idea of participatory democracy which appeared as a theory in 1970s. In the paper the both concepts are analysed in comparative perspective. Firstly, the idea of public deliberation is introduced, together with its “four (theoretical) generations”. Secondly, the author shed some light on the ongoing issue of the relationship of participatory and deliberative democracies through the perspective of various contemporary scholars. Consequently, some of their common traits are clarified.
Referendum and initiative as integral parts of participatory democracy are the key elements in preserving retained powers of the people. Diminishing the ability to guard they will by refusing to defend the outcomes of state popular vote in federal courts, leaves open question about interpretation of standing doctrines by United States Supreme Court. The same sex marriage cases present an example of different standards set by the highest court in this area. Hollingsworth v. Perry decision, stating that the official proponents of the initiative lack standing to appeal the judgement of the District Court undermines the principles of the initiative process, hence the whole concept of popular sovereignty.
The article deals with the concept of community organizing. First, the concept is explained from the theoretical point of view, in terms of political (civil) participation as a key prerequisite of substantive democracy and in context of its crisis, both in old democracies and post-communist societies. Later, it is considered as practice in its birthplace, in the American context, where community organizing is remarkably popular and effective. Subsequently, the article is focusing on research the possibility of using this concept in post-communist context, especially in the Slovak society. It shows that the lack of structural base (vibrant civil society in particular) and political legacy of authoritarianism are the main inhibitory factors in the development of civic political culture, which is the key sociocultural prerequisite of political participation, and consequently of community organizing.
The presented study deals with the issue of civic organizing of persons with disability (including their supporters, family members or volunteers) considered to be one of the primary indicators for measuring social capital. The authoress defines social relevance of the chosen topic in the introductory part. After that, selected characteristics of social capital as a sociological category are presented in order to apply them for analysing and interpretation of findings regarding the development of civic associations' membership within this area as well as the factors influencing this development. Her findings are supplemented by the research results of other authors that were focused on eliciting views of the disabled on citizens associations' efficiency in decision-making about public matters regarding the issue of the disability at the self-government level. She focuses on the bridging and binding effects of social capital generated in activities of civic associations of persons with disability, with ambiguous effect of the scope of civic associations, with the efficiency of the self-governing politics in this field, with possible causes of high fragmentation of the civic sector as well as with new challenges resulting from the information and communication technology development. In conclusion, the authoress emphasises that this study is one of the first attempts to use the interpretative potential of social capital for analysing this social-political field.
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