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donate Placeless. The future of democracy.
Democracy has fallen silent in Western Europe. Much too silent for the ongoing transformations. Under conditions of fraying nationality the places for political decisions change as much as theirs rules. The monopoly of big parties fades away, mass media control the important interfaces, commissions identify most common needs. At the same time, new discursive places, new forms, new publics evolve on the web and elsewhere. How can we picture future democracy? Political experts claim more efficiency and competence to achieve "good" political results. But without public involvement, broad discussions and representation, it is just not possible to define what a good result should be.
Some of the main content: Peter Siller questions if and how there could be anything like democratic progress. Christoph Möllers warns against overloading democracy with false expectations. Etienne Balibar expounds the tension between democratic procedures and civil society. In an extensive discussion Polar debates the future of democracy with the "New Frankfurt School", i.e. four main figures of the newly established research network on "normative orders" in Frankfurt: Nicole Deitelhoff, Rainer Forst, Stefan Gosepath and Christoph Menke. In another interview Polar interrogates blogging-star Axel Bruns on the real possibilities of e-democracy. The reportages focus on international matters. China, South Africa, Indonesia and Iraq still struggle with fundamental democratic structures. Christoph Raiser shows how Italy meanwhile is losing its democratic fundaments. Public forums, discussions and happenings are still everybody's darling on the international art scene. Anna-Catharina Gebbers examines the "agora-effect" in contemporary art.
Published 2009-10-27
Original in English
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