Este libro analiza en qué grado se transforman las opiniones y actitudes de los ciudadanos después de participar en una deliberación pública, partiendo de la hipótesis de que esta transformación se da hacia una mayor racionalización y moralización. La investigación tiene un enfoque fundamentalmente empírico, aunque parte de un cuerpo teórico sólido como es el de la democracia deliberativa. El estudio viene a sumarse a otros trabajos similares internacionales no conclusivos; aquí se analiza por primera vez un caso español y se aportan elementos de análisis y operacionalización genuinos. El estudio de caso es una encuesta deliberativa realizada en Córdoba a finales de 2006 sobre ocio nocturno juvenil en la que participaron 136 individuos. Se analizan tanto la calidad del propio proceso, a través de indicadores, como los resultados, a través del análisis de dos encuestas antes y después de la deliberación. Se comprueba cómo la encuesta deliberativa no solamente permite una deliberación de calidad entre ciudadanos, sino que también lleva a una transformación de las opiniones de mucha magnitud: aumenta el conocimiento y la sofisticación de los ciudadanos, así como su interés por la vida pública, y las opiniones de aquellos se tornan más coherentes. Todos estos cambios son, además, estables a lo largo del tiempo. Se concluye que si bien la práctica deliberativa no es autogenerativa ni tiene un desarrollo ideal en muchos otros espacios públicos, se puede defender contra el elitismo democrático la posibilidad de prácticas deliberativas más allá de los parlamentos

Direct democracy involves citizens in discussion and decisions about what the government is to do, rather than leaving this to officials or parliaments. It thus challenges the restrictions placed by representative democracies such as Britain and the United States on political consultation and popular participation. Why should responsible adults not take public decisions as well as making their own individual choices? One affects them just as much as the other. Can ordinary citizens make good public policy though? Many lack education and expertise and may not even be interested in politics. Even without these individual defects, mass debate may by its very nature lead to arbitrary or downright bad decisions. This book confronts these arguments in light of new communication developments which for the first time make direct democracy technically feasible in a mass society. The result is a highly original and innovative account of the possibility of the direct involvement of citizens in the governance of their own affairs.

In 2011, political protests sprang up across the world. In the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, the United States unlikely people sparked or led massive protest campaigns from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street. These protests were made up of educated and precariously employed young people who challenged the legitimacy of their political leaders, exposed a failure of representation, and expressed their dissatisfaction with their place in the aftermath of financial and economic crisis. This book interrogates what impacts--if any--this global protest cycle had on politics and policy and shows the sometimes unintended ways it continues to influence contemporary political dynamics throughout the world. Proposing a new framework of analysis that calls attention to the content and claims of protests, their global connections, and the responsiveness of political institutions to protest demands, this is one of the few books that not only asks how protest movements are formed but also provides an in-depth examination of what protest movements can accomplish. With contributions examining the political consequences of protest, the roles of social media and the internet in protest organization, left- and right-wing movements in the United States, Chile's student movements, the Arab Uprisings, and much more this collection is essential reading for all those interested in the power of protest to shape our world.

The North American Mosaic has four overarching features. First, it is, to the extent feasible, based on comparable information on the status and trends of major indicators of the state of the environment in Canada,Mexico, and the United States. Second, the report confirms that these three countries together make up an incredibly complex, dynamic, and interconnected ecosystem in which humans play a dominant and decisive role. Third, the report raises important and sometimes disquieting questions concerning the sustainability of some current trends. Finally, the report is a reminder that our economic, social, and physical well-being are utterly dependent on the life-sustaining services provided by nature. This report emphasizes the importance of developing mutually compatible economic, social, and environmental goals and policies across the three-country region.

With a focus predominantly on the two governments of José Maria Aznar between 1996 and 2004, and the José Luis Zapatero government after 2004, this book provides an introduction for students of Spain's history and its contemporary politics.

“This collection, because of its exceptional theoretical coherence and sophistication, is qualitatively superior to the most frequently consulted anthologies on Latin American women’s history and literature . . . [and] represents a new, more theoretically rigorous stage in the feminist debate on Latin American women.”—Elizabeth Garrels, Massachusetts Institute of Technology