Theoretical Frameworks of the Public Sphere
The public sphere can be characterized in basic form as an artificially constructed social space in which differing opinions, concerns and solutions can be expressed on a public level as a means of influencing political action. It is in a sense the social space where all citizens can engage in political participation and form public opinion, and has become an integral part of democratic theory. The public sphere is the central realm for societal communication that enables citizens to hold state powers accountable for their actions. While non-democratic societies may have spaces that are in a sense public as well as opportunities for the citizenry to express opinions and ideas to rest of the population, the concept of the public sphere has a distinct political aspect where democracy is necessitated for its existence. Put another way, a public sphere can only truly be a public sphere if it grants an opportunity to influence or even participate in the governance of its society.
While the public sphere as defined at this highest level is reasonably consistent across the literature, its structure and purpose differs in varying and important ways. There is a general consensus that a legitimate democratic process needs some sort of public sphere but there is considerably less agreement as to who is to be involved, how they should mobilize or for what reason they establish themselves. This first section will explore the various theoretical frameworks available for understanding the public sphere. First, the public sphere will be placed within the context of various systems of political thought. Second, more pragmatic but normative models, borrowing from these theoretical ideals, will be outline...
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...erproductive for society but necessary to ensure that all viewpoints are able to be expressed.
Each of these normative models has their strengths and weaknesses, with some favouring inclusivity at the expense of being politically efficacious while others perhaps place a needless amount of importance on obtaining a single consensus. Nevertheless, the more pressing issue is whether they can be adequately applied to a transnational context. These models, as well as their theoretical underpinnings, are grounded in a system of thought centred on states that are generally Westphalian. However, as will be shown in the next section, globalization has fundamentally altered the political landscape in which the public sphere finds itself and whatever flaws inherent to these models that existed before are amplified when strict territorial boundaries are expanded and removed.
one cannot speak of a public sphere in the Middle Ages, but rather an existence of a so-called
The most manageable way to approach such an intricate and abstruse concept such as public order is to first establish it as a means...
Sirianni in his book “Investing in Democracy” has examined how government can serve as a civic enabler of productive engagement and collaborative problem solving among civic associations, ordinary citizens, and stakeholder groups. He also tried to find out how the public policy and administration can be designed to help the involvement of the government. Siriannni has argued on the view that in recent era the government’s role is becoming more important due to the increasing complexity of public problems, diversity among the stakeholders, and continued erosion of civic life by the deep cultural and institutional trends. Sirianni tried to reflect the image of the government, local, state, and federal as civic enabler whose work should be to design policy and invest strategically, systematically, and effectively in building civic capacity to enable the daily public life of the citizens. Sirianni has focused on many reasons to argue why government should be the civic enabler. Firstly, due to the long term changes in the civic organization and culture, the capacities for self-government will not simply bubble up from the wellsprings of civic society, and certainly they will not come out through the invisible hand of the market. “Civic changes have been propelled in many cases by profound and irreversible socioeconomics shift, such as the replacement of the highly civic-minded World War II generation, increased female participation in the labor force, and continual spread of technologies that encourage individualized leisure.” [Sirianni. C]. Secondly, it has been often found that government policies and administrative have often tried to disable effective and responsible civic action. So by involving the government the policies can be ...
First, the role of the media is to represent the public and intervene between the public and the government. The media is a mirror, which re...
The most important value of nationalism to democracy lies in the fact that it has the capacity to unite individual citizens into a single entity with shared beliefs. Democracy requires a definition of demos or who are included in the game and who are not (Nodia 6). Wherever the boundaries of the playing field are in dispute, democratic institutions (such as participation, representation, or cooperation) simply cannot function. Thus, for democracy to o...
In order to understand how these influences or principles have spread, it must also be figured out how these principles developed. Again here, it must be asserted that the historical context is of vital importance because it reveals the manner in which some actions that took place at particular points in time had formed consensus notions. It is these notions that were carried through and developed into what have become western democratic principles. These had evidently developed with the passage of time due to the occurrences that took place on the American continent; the types of people that landed there were responsible for the influences they had in the formulation of law. Though other western countries experienced similar transition America is one country that must be particularly mentioned (Kagan et al, 2000).
The public sphere has been falsely represented as a virtual place where one can share and debate opinions; ...
Lastly Mills highlights how a truly democratic state can be achieved. There is a need for a public that acts a medium for true political change, skilled men who form the higher powers of the state and have no vested corporate interests, dependable parties that debate openly and lucidly the problems faced by the world and finally liberated institutions between the public and the elite that act as proponent for the public opinion.
...ty exclusive of external authorities. Second, in terms of domestic sovereignty, for fairly long time the political structures of states have been following the global trends, from monarchy, to republics, to democratic states most recently. From above we can see that both domestic sovereignty and Westphalian sovereignty are facing challenges all the time, which are not new, but characteristic from time to time. Since sovereignty is the core value of a state, it is reasonable to conclude that nation-state is challenged by globalization but its power is not undermined.
Uscinski, J. E. (2009). When Does the Public's Issue Agenda Affect the Media's Issue Agenda (and Vice-Versa)? Developing a Framework for Media-Public Influence. Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 90(4), 796-815. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00663.x
To achieve civic engagement is undertaken in many diverse ways. These are determined by several factors, amongst them the purpose of the civic engagement, the people involved in it, the funds to be involved amongst others. The...
Globalization has effect the role of the state immensely; as the process of present’s challenges to state sovereignty and autonomy. In spite of borders becoming more ill-defined and fluid in as a result of the process of globalization (Weiss 2000, 2-3). The state will remain relevant and necessary because citizens need a place to cast their votes, taxes have to be paid to particular authorities, which can be held accountable for pub...
Internet has been acknowledged as one of the most efficient way to collect and reflect public opinions, for that people with different classes and races can express their opinions with no obstacles in virtual network spaces. People can speak out whatever they want just by typing on the keyboard within a second. Dr. Heather Savigny mentions in her article “Public Opinion, Political Communication and the Internet” that “The expansion of the internet as a new method of communication provides a potential challenge to the primacy of the traditional media and political parties as formers of public opinion” (1). People realized that the power of internet public opinion in the focus on social issues can be used as a weapon to affect government decision-makings. However, does public opinion only brings positive effects?
There is an undeniable fact that there has been a rise in globalization. It has become a hot topic amongst the field of international politics. With the rise of globalization, the sovereignty of the state is now being undermined. It has become an undisputed fact that the world has evolved to a new level of globalization, the transferring goods, information, ideas and services around the globe has changed at an unimaginable rate. With all that is going on, one would question how globalization has changed the system that is typically a collection of sovereign states. Do states still have the main source of power? What gives a state the right to rule a geographically defined region? It is believed by many that due to the introduction of international systems and increasing rate of globalization, the sovereignty of the state has been slowly eroded over time. My paper has two parts: First, it aims to take a close look at how globalization has changed the way the economy worked, specifically how it opened doors for multinational corporations to rise in power. Second, to answer the question, is it possible for it to exist today? And even so, should it?
In true democracy, there is no doubt that voices will rise against the ideas for public participation. Over the past years, certain visible feature relating to public participation and the increase and there had been a rise on the decision making process where citizens get involved. The public participation in the policy process, to truly implement the principles of democracy of the public process should aim to be rational and fair to achieve effectiveness.