One of the most hotly-contested debates in contemporary democracy revolves around issues of political presence, and whether the fair representation of disadvantaged groups requires their presence in elected assemblies. Representation as currently understood derives its legitimacy from a politics of ideas, which considers accountability in relation to declared policies and programs, and makes it a matter of relative indifference who articulates political preferences or beliefs. What happens to the meaning of representation and accountability when we make the gender or ethnic composition of elected assemblies an additional area of concern? In this innovative contribution to the theory of representation--which draws upon debates about gender quotas in Europe, minority voting rights in the USA, and the multi-layered politics of inclusion in Canada--the author argues that the politics of ideas is an inadequate vehicle for dealing with political exclusion. But eschewing any essentialist grounding to group identity or group interest, she also argues against either/or choice between ideas and political presence. The work then combines with contemporary explorations of deliberative democracy to establish a different balance between accountability and autonomy.

The Politics of Presence (Oxford Political Theory)

Politics & Social Sciences

Phillips, Anne

Philosophy

Oxford University Press

One of the most hotly-contested debates in contemporary democracy revolves around issues of political presence, and whether the fair representation of disadvantaged groups requires their presence in elected assemblies. Representation as currently understood derives its legitimacy from a politics of ideas, which considers accountability in relation to declared policies and programs, and makes it a matter of relative indifference who articulates political preferences or beliefs. What happens to the meaning of representation and accountability when we make the gender or ethnic composition of elected assemblies an additional area of concern? In this innovative contribution to the theory of representation--which draws upon debates about gender quotas in Europe, minority voting rights in the USA, and the multi-layered politics of inclusion in Canada--the author argues that the politics of ideas is an inadequate vehicle for dealing with political exclusion. But eschewing any essentialist grounding to group identity or group interest, she also argues against either/or choice between ideas and political presence. The work then combines with contemporary explorations of deliberative democracy to establish a different balance between accountability and autonomy.

If colonialism was the product of capitalism, as conventional wisdom would have it, why were the intersts of capitalism so ill-served? This is the central enigma which Anne Phillips confronts in this study of British colonial policy formulation in West Africa. North America: Indiana U Press

The Enigma of Colonialism: British Policy in West Africa

Politics & Government

Indiana Univ. Pr

Despite the seemingly gender-neutral categories of individual or citizen, democratic theory and practice continue to be largely male privileges. This book addresses democratic issues from a feminist perspective, exploring the under-relationship of women in politics, the relationship between the private and the public spheres, the lessons to be drawn from the experience of the recent women's movement attempts to make its views heard in democracies.

Engendering Democracy

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Penn State University Press

Despite the seemingly gender-neutral categories of individual or citizen, democratic theory and practice continue to be largely male privileges. This book addresses democratic issues from a feminist perspective, exploring the under-relationship of women in politics, the relationship between the private and the public spheres, the lessons to be drawn from the experience of the recent women's movement attempts to make its views heard in democracies.

A focus on the issues of class has provided much of the content of twentieth-century debates on democracy, with liberal democrats seeking to discount class differences and social democrats trying to find ways to eliminate them. Within this framework, attention has historically been given to such questions as the substantive conditions necessary to fulfill the promise of political equality, the appropriate scope of democratic decisionmaking, and the tension between an individualist politics of rights and a more collectivist notion of the common good. While these questions remain important, the context of the debate has shifted significantly during the past decade as perceptions of what differences should count for politics have changed. The preoccupation with class has weakened as other group differences have moved to the forefront of the agenda of democratic politics in the face of continuing second-class citizenship for women worldwide, the persistence of racial conflict in the U.S., and the emergence of ethnic hostilities in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. 
Tracing the author's own intellectual and political development during this period of change, the essays in this collection share two important common themes. On the one hand, they argue that we must give up on the yearning for undifferentiated unity as the basis for democratic politics. On the other hand, they point to the dangers of forgetting the continued salience of class and of abandoning all aspirations towards universality, which could lead to an individualist politics of self-interest or the reinforcement of merely local identities in which people can speak only to their immediate groups. Inspired by a vision of democracy through difference, Anne Phillips calls for a "politics of democratic engagement" that neither denies nor capitulates to the particularity of group identity but promotes the construction of broader community and solidarity through the active involvement of people trying to sort out their differences themselves.

Democracy and Difference

Women's Studies

Rigby Star Independent Red Reader 9: Bedtime for Bear

Children's Books

RIGBY

Describes the construction of one of the newest Washington monuments, a memorial to the thirty-second president.

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (Cornerstones of Freedom Second Series)

History

Childrens Pr

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (Cornerstones of Freedom)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Phillips, Anne. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Phillips, Anne

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Phillips, Anne. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Politics of Presence (Oxford Political Theory)

The Politics of Presence (Oxford Political Theory)

The Enigma of Colonialism: British Policy in West Africa

Engendering Democracy

Engendering Democracy

Democracy and Difference

Democracy and Difference

Rigby Star Independent Red Reader 9: Bedtime for Bear

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (Cornerstones of Freedom Second Series)

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (Cornerstones of Freedom)