Tonycurzonprice's Favorite Links on democracy from Diigo

Simon Jenkins: Democracy is ill served by its self-appointed guardians | Comment is free | The Guardian

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:34:01 -0000

these same leaders who, having destroyed order in Iraq and Afghanistan, hail them as democracies when in reality they are anarchies, failed states. To vote for a ruler in a fortress is not to participate in a democracy.

Tags: democracy

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

How business can save the world - The Boston Globe

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:42:37 -0000

There is also the possibility that companies can drive bad social changes, according to Charles Derber, a sociologist at Boston College and author of "The Wilding of America: Money, Mayhem, and the New American Dream" (2006). Empowerment at work may lead to engagement in society, but employees who feel that their company pays mere lip service to participatory management are likely to become cynical about participation in civic life as well. In large corporations, where participatory management may be no more than a flurry of buzzwords and employee participation is diluted due to the sheer size of the company, the results may be detrimental.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

In a 2005 debate in Reason magazine, Whole Foods founder and CEO John Mackey articulated his vision of virtuous, socially responsible business.

"Human nature isn't just about self-interest," Mackey wrote, paraphrasing Adam Smith. "It also includes sympathy, empathy, friendship, love, and the desire for social approval. As motives for human behavior, these are at least as important as self-interest. For many people, they are more important."

In July of last year it was revealed that Mackey used a pseudonym in numerous online posts critical of Whole Foods' competitor Wild Oats, a chain of natural supermarkets Mackey was in the midst of trying to acquire.

Encouraging employees to practice virtue in factory and community is one thing; getting CEOs to do the same may be a challenge of a different order.

Tags: democracy participation

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

FT.com / Columnists / Gideon Rachman - Let us not lose faith in democracy

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:10:35 -0000

History does suggest that most democracies emerge gradually, that liberal political systems are about a lot more than voting – and that democracy is most likely to survive in wealthy countries. But what are the practical implications of this? That it is acceptable to torture your opponents and shut down the media if your GDP per capita is below $1,500? One hopes not.

Tags: democracy realism

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Secret mailing list rocks Wikipedia | The Register

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:29:29 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

If you take Wikipedia as seriously as it takes itself, this is a huge problem. The site is ostensibly devoted to democratic consensus and the free exchange of ideas. But whether or not you believe in the holy law of Web 2.0, Wikipedia is tearing at the seams. Many of its core contributors are extremely unhappy about Durova's ill-advised ban and the exposure of the secret mailing list, and some feel that the site's well-being is seriously threatened.

In a post to Wikipedia, Jimbo Wales says that this whole incident was blown out of proportion. "I advise the world to relax a notch or two. A bad block was made for 75 minutes," he says. "It was reversed and an apology given. There are things to be studied here about what went wrong and what could be done in the future, but wow, could we please do so with a lot less drama? A 75 minute block, even if made badly, is hardly worth all this drama. Let's please love each other, love the project, and remember what we are here for."

But he's not admitting how deep this controversy goes. Wales and the Wikimedia Foudation came down hard on the editor who leaked Durova's email. After it was posted to the public forum, the email was promptly "oversighted" - i.e. permanently removed. Then this rogue editor posted it to his personal talk page, and a Wikimedia Foundation member not only oversighted the email again, but temporarily banned the editor.

Then Jimbo swooped in with a personal rebuke. "You have caused too much harm to justify us putting up with this kind of behavior much longer," he told the editor.

The problem, for many regular contributors, is that Wales and the Foundation seem to be siding with Durova's bizarre behavior. "I believe that Jimbo's credibility has been greatly damaged because of his open support for these people," says Charles Ainsworth. And if Jimbo can't maintain his credibility, the site's most experienced editors may not stick around. Since the banhammer came down, Bang Bang hasn't edited a lick.

wikipedia politics and culture of openness posted by tonycurzonprice

Tags: culture democracy macarthur wikipedia

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

PressThink: Bloggers vs. Journalists is Over

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 02:32:22 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Bush to Press: "You're Assuming That You Represent the Public. I Don't Accept That." "Bush and his advisors have their own press think, which they are trying out as policy. Reporters do not represent the interests of a broader public. They aren't a pipeline to the people, because people see through the game of Gotcha. The press has forfeited, if it ever had, its quasi-official role in the checks and balances of government."

Tags: democracy newspapers representation

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

:::::::::::::::::::: Democracy House ::::::::::::::::::::

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 23:48:11 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Why Democracy? Be part of the global conversation. Tell us what you think. Show us your experience. Share your ideas with others and find out how you can be part of Why Democracy?

Tags: democracy ford

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Getting democracy into focus | openDemocracy

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 12:44:07 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

The one element clear right through representative democracy’s advance across the world has been the centrality of popular rejection of autocratic effrontery, often exhilarating at the time but in retrospect a transitory pleasure. The structure of modern representative democracy (the form of state now called by that name) does not provide a clear model for any community to rule itself in freedom, let alone in reliable serenity and prosperity. What it provides is a practical basis through which to refuse to be ruled unaccountably and indefinitely against your will.

Less steadily and on far less egalitarian terms, it also provides a framework through which to explore together what people should and should not attempt to do as a community. Virtually none of the elements of an answer to that question can come from democracy as an idea. Almost all have to be pieced together arduously from somewhere else.

Crudely speaking, the political appeal of democracy lies in its claim to realise political equality. (So, soberly speaking, does its potential political menace.)

Tags: democracy

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Muslims in the Dark - The New York Review of Books

Wed, 23 May 2007 13:07:39 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Muslims in the Dark

Tags: democracy disillusion

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Personal Democracy Forum – Technology Is Changing Politics

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:24:48 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Technology and the Internet are changing democracy in America. Personal Democracy Forum is a hub for the exciting conversation underway between political professionals, technologists, and anyone else invigorated by the remarkable potential of technology to engage citizens in the democratic process.

Tags: democracy

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Project Syndicate

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 11:51:00 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

A crime can never be buried. Political crimes never fade. We have not forgotten what was done to ordinary black people in the name of apartheid. Indeed, by launching the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we know far more about the full horrors of that era than we would had we sought to prosecute people, or tried simply to move on. Literally, the truth has set us free to be at peace with ourselves. Remembrance and forgiveness have allowed our remembered nightmares to be consigned to the past. It is my deepest hope that Iraqis and other peoples haunted by the past can find a way to live in peace with peace of mind.

Tags: democracy russia south-africa trc

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Libération

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:52:17 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

We have today, for many reasons that we all know, to think of a democratic relationship not only with other citizens but also with non-citizens. That's a modern experience; you know that between the wars, after the first World War, already there were in Europe - Hannah Arendt paid special attention to this - huge crowds of people not even in exile, not even deported but displaced persons who were not considered citizens, and, according to Hannah Arendt, that is one of the origins of what happened in the second World War. This non-citizenship of people we have to care for, to welcome, urges us, compels us, to think of a democratic relationship beyond the borders of the nation-state.

Tags: democracy immigration tolerance

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Citizen assemblies: radical common sense Ben Rogers - openDemocracy

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:34:01 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

The British Columbia experiment in particular shows that citizens are more than capable of picking their way through difficult policy issues. Having reviewed all the various options, the assembly proposed a well-argued recommendation for proportional representation. In the referendum that followed, their choice was endorsed by some 58% - only 2% short of the 60% needed to change the system.

Tags: democracy politics

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

In the Voting Booth, Bias Starts at the Top - New York Times

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 02:41:59 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

When do voters gravitate to the first name they see? Based on the more than 100 elections in Ohio that a colleague and I studied, it’s when voters know little or nothing about the candidates, or when the candidates’ party affiliations are not listed on the ballot, or when the incumbent (whom voters typically know at least somewhat) is not running for re-election. Thus, some voters apparently feel an obligation or desire to vote even when they have no basis for choosing a candidate and are drawn to the first name they read.

Tags: democracy voting

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Techcrunch » Blog Archive » Spike the Vote: Another Cancer Aimed at Digg

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:12:45 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

A link on the front page of Digg means tens of thousands of visitors to your site, so it’s no surprise that people are setting up systems to game it. The newest attempt is called Spike the Vote. It’s easy to wag your finger at them and say “shame on you,” but Digg is going to have to deal with threats like this if the content on its front page is going to mean anything.

Tags: democracy gaming machine-democracy

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Democratising globalisation: Joseph Stiglitz interviewed Justin Vogler - openDemocracy

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 03:24:37 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

"Democracy is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for successful development", replies Stiglitz carefully. "Though I would argue that it helps achieve sustainable development, a defence of democracy in my mind should not be instrumental." His argument for democracy is not that it is good for development; it is that it is good for people.

Tags: democracy development

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Global Guerrillas: CATASTROPHIC BLACK SWANS

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 23:53:04 -0000

Comments:

the hand grenade is democratic posted by tonycurzonprice

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

"It is a commonplace that the history of civilisation is largely the history of weapons. In particular, the connection between the discovery of gunpowder and the overthrow of feudalism by the bourgeoisie has been pointed out over and over again. And though I have no doubt exceptions can be brought forward, I think the following rule would be found generally true: that ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example, thanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon--so long as there is no answer to it--gives claws to the weak."

Tags: democracy orwell terrorism

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Bokardo » Digg’s Design Dilemma

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 12:03:50 -0000

Comments:

gaming digg votes posted by tonycurzonprice

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

These incidents, taken together, are more than coincidence. They strongly suggest that Digg is being gamed by a small number of users, artificially inflating the value of stories that might not deserve such attention. This flies in the face of the democratic ideal of the site. And so far, nobody has claimed that the two articles I mentioned are false: Digg exposes most of the voting activity for all to see. A small group of users is definitely having a large effect on popular stories.

Ease of voting
While it takes extra effort to read posts, it takes almost no effort to digg them. This might be backward…digg is essentially making it possible to vote without knowing what you’re voting on. Although the digg feature is amazing, an excellent example of technology that makes our lives easier, it is also in danger of trivializing them.

This reminds me of a story by Derek Powazek in his book Design for Community, where he makes the point that the harder it is for someone to comment on something, the better the comments are. In other words, people who jump through hoops (or pay attention long enough) to comment are the ones who really care about the subject matter, they’re invested in the story and see value in taking the time to respond.

Tags: democracy gaming machine-democracy

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

No 2, 2005

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 07:30:51 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Professors Bruno Frey and Alois Stutzer showed that the more extensive the political participation rights of citizens, the more satisfied they were with their lives. Their research, published in the Economic Journal, used data from 6,000 residents of Switzerland to show that people are happier the greater the local level of democracy. What is more, this increased happiness stems more from actual participation in the democratic process than from the outcome of the process itself.

Tags: democracy participation

Posted by: tonycurzonprice