Globalization poses new challenges for the modern welfare state and democracies. One controversial issue is how struggles for economic equality are linked with struggles for recognition of difference according to gender, ethnicity and sexuality. The Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment examines the political and academic debates about the inclusion or exclusion of women and marginalized social groups from different policy contexts. The focus is on the different class and gender regimes influencing the interplay of political, civil and social citizenship at different levels of politics.

How institutions foster and hinder political participation of the underrepresented

The issue of political participation has been central to American politics since the founding of the United States. The Politics of Democratic Inclusion addresses the ways traditionally underrepresented groups have and have not achieved political incorporation, representation, and influence—or "democratic inclusion"—in American politics. Each chapter provides a "state of the discipline" essay that addresses the politics of diversity from a range of perspectives and in a variety of institutional arenas. Taken together, the essays in The Politics of Democratic Inclusion evaluate and advance our understanding of the ways in which the structure, processes, rules, and context of the American political order encourage, mediate, and hamper the representation and incorporation of traditionally disadvantaged groups.

"We regularly read and hear exhortations for women to take up positions in STEM. The call comes from both government and private corporate circles, and it also emanates from enthusiasts for free and open source software (FOSS), i.e. software that anyone is free to use, copy, study, and change in any way. Ironically, rate of participation in FOSS-related work is far lower than in other areas of computing. A 2002 European Union study showed that fewer than 2 percent of software developers in the FOSS world were women. How is it that an intellectual community of activists so open in principle to one and all -a community that prides itself for its enlightened politics and its commitment to social change - should have such a low rate of participation by women? This book is an ethnographic investigation of efforts to improve the diversity in software and hackerspace communities, with particular attention paid to gender diversity advocacy"--

Post-Mandal, the demand for reservations by various groups has become a consistent feature of Indian politics. Yet, the focus remains on caste, with little attention paid to the under-representation of religious minorities in India. The book takes up the case of relative disadvantage and interogates the multiple and overlapping dimensions of deprivation. Hasan argues that, in view of the comparative evidence avaiable, presently excluded and disadvantaged groups should also qualify for affirmative action. This book will interest students and scholars of Indian politics, sociology, and history.

Assessing the limits of pluralism, this book examines different types of political inclusion and exclusion and their distinctive dimensions and dynamics. Why are particular social groups excluded from equal participation in political processes? How do these groups become more fully included as equal participants? Often, the critical issue is not whether a group is included but how it is included. Collectively, these essays elucidate a wide range of inclusion or exclusion: voting participation, representation in legislative assemblies, representation of group interests in processes of policy formation and implementation, and participation in discursive processes of policy framing. Covering broad territory—from African Americans to Asian Americans, the transgendered to the disabled, and Latinos to Native Americans—this volume examines in depth the give and take between how policies shape political configuration and how politics shape policy. At a more fundamental level, Ericson and his contributors raise some traditional and some not-so-traditional issues about the nature of democratic politics in settings with a multitude of group identities.