|
Workshop
The Methodological Relevance of Reconstruction in Democratic Theory
WP 1 - Theoretical framework
WP 1 events
Oslo, 26-27 May 2011
Workshop outline
Scholarly
thinking about democracy as an idea and about democracy as political
practice is still largely divided along disciplinary lines – normative
political theory and empirical political science. Democracy as an idea
is almost exclusively discussed within political theory. Here, the focus
is on saving the idea of democracy against challenges of
transnationalisation. Growing complexity and pluralisation of values
seem to lower problem-solving capacities of western democratic
nation-states. At the same time, decisions are increasingly made by
intergovernmental bodies, which are still perceived as elitist or
technocratic executive legislation. In the light of these challenges,
citizens seem not only to challenge a particular government's
legitimacy, but democracy itself. In turn, political theory focuses on
how to legitimise different forms and levels of governance. Is it
possible to institutionalise democracy in multi-level governance (EU) or
even in a global context – or do we need an alternative value-basis for
a just political order? Can transnational governance be democratically
legitimate? On the other hand, democracy as a political practice is
largely covered by empirically oriented political science. Here, the
main focus still is on the actual practices in and around the
institutions of the democratic nation-state (voting behaviour, party
politics, media coverage, protest movements, the role of deliberation
and so on). However, recent empirical research has reacted to the
processes of transnationalisation. More attention is paid to the
democratic characteristics of international or transnational sites of
governance, mainly analysing their quality of deliberation.
In
our view, this disciplinary divide encourages complementary fallacies.
Normative proposals for how to rescue the idea of democracy often remain
up in the air. They usually pay little attention to actual practices
of governance and public discourse in democratic societies. Empirical
research on the other hand divides and disaggregates the idea of
democracy analytically and focuses on certain parts of democratic
practice only. Thereby the meaning and essence of the idea of democracy
as a whole often gets lost.
To
put it briefly, we believe that both views do not adequately reflect
democracy as an idea in practice. To see whether and how democracy can
be preserved on the European or global level, we need to know more about
how democracy as idea actually works in the political practice of
current democratic societies and how it is engrained in the
presuppositions and practices of modern governance. For example: Under
what conditions do people judge politics to be democratic or
undemocratic? Is their view related to the idea of a community or to
certain political institutions? Do they view political rule as justified
even if they see it as undemocratic? If yes, on the basis of what
alternative values? Have these views changed historically? How do
international institutions and other forms of governance beyond and
beside the state rely on democratic ideas in their practices? To what
extent is the idea of democracy constitutionally enshrined in
international institutions?
The
impasse created by the disciplinary division of normative and empirical
reasoning is now increasingly felt in the various sub-disciplines of
political science. In democratic theory, it is mainly the concept of
'deliberative democracy' around which cooperation of empirical and
normative studies has been intensified. However, we believe, that to
pursue the questions above and also to evaluate the merits of the
research on deliberative democracy, it is first necessary to take
another, prior step. In the questions above and the research on
deliberative democracy the task of normative analysis (illuminating the
idea of democracy) is intrinsically related to empirical analysis
(describing the constitutive or causal impact of that idea in political
practice). It is, however, not sufficiently explored what follows from
this connection for the analysis of democracy. Is it possible at all to
'describe' the impact of a normative idea in political reality? How can
we gain a normative account that on the one hand relies on practice, but
on the other can authoritatively challenge and reform it? How can we
detect possible effects of transnationalisation on the everyday
understanding and working of democracy?
The
aim of the workshop is to shed more light on these methodologically
oriented questions. It takes up a particular view and focuses on the
methodological concept of 'reconstruction' in democratic theory. It is
no coincidence that efforts to bring normative and empirical research
closer develop around the theory of deliberative democracy. One of its
social theoretical foundations – the discourse theory of Jürgen Habermas
– is closely associated with the idea of reconstruction. A core theme
of discourse theory is the role and functioning of normative ideals in
social practice. However, whereas other parts of discourse theory are
prominently discussed in contemporary democratic theory, Habermas’
methodologically important idea of a 'reconstructive social science' is
not adequately reflected – especially in its connection of views from
political science, sociology and philosophy.
We
think that further reflection on the concept of reconstruction is
beneficial in two regards. For one, it fosters the development of
research methods that overcome a false dichotomy between empirical and
normative views in democratic theory. For another, a turn to the
theoretical view of democracy as an idea in practice leads to a better
understanding of the challenges to current democratic societies – and
thus helps to evaluate the need and impact of measures to save democracy
in a transnationalising world.
Organised by ARENA - Centre for European Studies in cooperation with the Research Programme on Democracy at the University of Oslo. The workshop takes place within the framework of RECON's work package 1 'Theoretical Framework'. Read more on the research objectives of WP 1 and on the overall research objectives of RECON.
|