Participatory Democracy, Democratic Education, and Women

Inclusive Democracy and Participatory Economics

Although Michael Albert is well aware of the existence of the Inclusive Democracy (ID) project, still, in his new book Parecon, Life After Capitalism he prefers to ignore its existence and follows the trouble-free path to compare Parecon with the disastrous central planning system and the narrowly ecological bio-regionalism, (or, elsewhere, with social ecology’s libertarian municipalism, which,...

Maureen H. Turnbull Specificity and Difference Matters For Democracy: A Movement-Relevant Participatory Democratic Theory in Dialogue with Participatory Democratic Social Movement Praxis

Social movements rarely start out by posing radical challenges to dominant social warrants. They generally focus on modest and melioristic reforms, on immediate obstacles rather than abstract enemies. But the practical activities of struggle produce new possibilities and prohibitions that compel activists to change themselves in the process of changing societies. Rebels need revolutions, argues...

Participatory democracy in social movements

Participatory democracy refers to an organizational form in which decision making is decentralized, nonhierarchical, and consensus oriented. It can be contrasted with bureaucracy, in which decision making is centralized, hierarchical, and based on a formal division of labor, as well as with majority vote. Participatory democratic organizations have been a prominent feature of many progressive m...

Values, Participatory Democracy, and Health Care Reform

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this essay is to look at health reform using a framework of values. Values are the elements or characteristics that we find desirable or good about a system; they are the ideals that we strive to make a reality. Values lie at the core of any system. Values shape the organization and financing of health services. As we work to reform our health care system, a fundamen...

When Does Participatory Democracy Deepen the Quality of Democracy?