The economic crisis within the European Union also involves a crisis of democracy. On the one side the austerity-politics of the Troika limits the influence of democratic procedures. On the other side new forms of soc...The economic crisis within the European Union also involves a crisis of democracy. On the one side the austerity-politics of the Troika limits the influence of democratic procedures. On the other side new forms of social protests rise in which social actors struggle for an extension of the democratic public： the resistance against evictions the self-organization of medical care, the occupation of public places etc. realized new forms of social cooperation, discussion and decision-making processes. On this background a reference to John Deweys theory of the democratic public seems to be helpful to reconstruct and to orient these conflicts and the claims raised in them. According to Dewey the normative criteria which we use if we evaluate actions or common institutions are a part of the social process and insofar a process themselves. These criteria have to be reflected and reformulated in new situations in which new social problems and conflicts occur. The democratic public is in this conception the realm in which a common elucidation of problematic social consequences of the existing institutions takes place and in which proposals for the overcoming of these consequences are formulated. Therefore it reconstructs the central norms embedded within the social institutions, it shows how collective actions guided by these norms leads to problematic social consequences. This is then the background for a critical reflection on, and a reformulation of the guiding norms of these institutions. To realize such a form of collective self-determination the democratic public can not be reduced to a separate political sphere, rather it has to be extended to all forms of social cooperation especially the economy.展开更多
文摘The economic crisis within the European Union also involves a crisis of democracy. On the one side the austerity-politics of the Troika limits the influence of democratic procedures. On the other side new forms of social protests rise in which social actors struggle for an extension of the democratic public： the resistance against evictions the self-organization of medical care, the occupation of public places etc. realized new forms of social cooperation, discussion and decision-making processes. On this background a reference to John Deweys theory of the democratic public seems to be helpful to reconstruct and to orient these conflicts and the claims raised in them. According to Dewey the normative criteria which we use if we evaluate actions or common institutions are a part of the social process and insofar a process themselves. These criteria have to be reflected and reformulated in new situations in which new social problems and conflicts occur. The democratic public is in this conception the realm in which a common elucidation of problematic social consequences of the existing institutions takes place and in which proposals for the overcoming of these consequences are formulated. Therefore it reconstructs the central norms embedded within the social institutions, it shows how collective actions guided by these norms leads to problematic social consequences. This is then the background for a critical reflection on, and a reformulation of the guiding norms of these institutions. To realize such a form of collective self-determination the democratic public can not be reduced to a separate political sphere, rather it has to be extended to all forms of social cooperation especially the economy.
