As the Egyptian revolution unfolded throughout 2011 and the ensuing years, no one was better positioned to comment on it—and try to push it in productive directions—than best-selling novelist and political commentator Alaa Al-Aswany. For years a leading critic of the Mubarak regime, Al-Aswany used his weekly newspaper column for Al-Masry Al-Youm to propound the revolution’s ideals and to confront the increasingly troubled politics of its aftermath. This book presents, for the first time in English, all of Al-Aswany’s columns from the period, a comprehensive account of the turmoil of the post-revolutionary years, and a portrait of a country and a people in flux. Each column is presented along with a context-setting introduction, as well as notes and a glossary, all designed to give non-Egyptian readers the background they need to understand the events and figures that Al-Aswany chronicles. The result is a definitive portrait of Egypt today—how it got here, and where it might be headed.

For years, intellectuals have argued that, with the triumph of capitalist, liberal democracy, the Western World has reached “the end of history.” Recently, however, there has been a rise of authoritarian politics in many countries. Concepts of post-democracy, anti-politics, and the like are gaining currency in theoretical and political debate. Now that capitalist democracies are facing seismic and systemic challenges, it becomes increasingly important to investigate not only the inherent antagonism between liberalism and the democratic process, but also socialism. Is socialism an enemy of democracy? Could socialism develop, expand, even enhance democracy? While this volume seeks a reappraisal of existing liberal democracy today, its main goal is to help lay the foundation for new visions and practices in developing a real socialist democracy. Amid the contradictions of neoliberal capitalism today, the responsibility to sort out the relationship between socialism and democracy has never been greater. No revival of socialist politics in the twenty-first century can occur without founding new democratic institutions and practices.

How “We the People” can reclaim our democracy—updated with a discussion guide, author videos, and a new chapter-length Introduction In this updated edition of his prophetic book, renowned author and activist Parker J. Palmer celebrates the power of “We the People” to resist the politics of divide and conquer. With the U.S. now on a global list of “backsliding democracies,” Palmer writes about what we can do to restore civil discourse, reach for understanding across lines of difference, focus on our shared values, and hold elected officials accountable. He explores ways we can reweave the communal fabric on which democracy depends in everyday settings such as families, neighborhoods, classrooms, congregations, workplaces, and various public spaces—including five “habits of the heart” we can cultivate as we work to fulfill America's promise of human equality. In the same honest, vulnerable, compelling and inspiring prose that has won Palmer millions of readers, Healing the Heart of Democracy awakens our instinct to seek the common good and gives us the tools to pursue it. With a text enhanced by a Discussion Guide and forty online author videos on key issues, you'll be able to... Reflect on the personal implications of the claim that “the human heart is the first home of democracy” Consider everyday actions you can take to restore the infrastructure that supports our democracy Transcend the “us vs. them” mentality and find ways to expand and enrich your life by appreciating the value of “otherness” Reignite your sense of personal voice and agency to resist authoritarian appeals and restore a politics of freedom and responsibility Healing the Heart of Democracy is for anyone who values the gift of citizenship and wants to make a difference for themselves, their families and communities, and our collective wellbeing. As the late Congressman John Lewis said, “We have been trying to bridge the great divides in this great country for a long time. In this book, Parker J. Palmer urges us to ‘keep on walking, keep on talking’—just as we did in the civil rights movement—until we cross those bridges together.”

Fundamental reform of State Constitutions is needed now more than ever. Indeed, the process is under way in all States and Territories. Across Australia there is a growing belief that public institutions must be made more relevant to the needs of an increasingly restless electorate.

The reader is asked to consider our democracy as it is today and whether increasing our level of representation in Parliament using a system of total voting will unite society and improve our governance. Having made the consideration the reader is then plunged into the ‘what could be,’ an array of thoughts, practises, and procedures that will bring society’s needs closer to governance. Statistical data is set to a minimum so as not to divert the reader from the objective of making people think about what they have and then what they could have.

Providing the tools for critical thinking, the fifth edition of Analyzing American Democracy: Politics and Political Science relies on statistical analysis, constitutional scholarship, and theoretical foundations to introduce the structure, process, and outcomes of the U.S. political system. Interpretation and implications of the 2022 mid-term elections and full results of the 2020 census are included, as are discussions of:: the January 6th commission, major developments in the Supreme Court, the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and other key political events that shape domestic, foreign, judicial, and economic policies. For introductory courses in American government, this text covers theory and methods as well. New to the Fifth Edition • New and updated statistical data reflecting the 2020 census and the 2022 midterm elections, and discussions of the implications of the data and the results. • Offers a retrospective analysis of the entire Trump presidency and the first years of the Biden presidency. • Examines contemporary questions of social justice and anticipates upcoming challenges to voting rights, affirmative action policies, health care and reproductive rights, and protections for ethnic minorities and the LGBT community. • Previews the policy implications of an increasingly partisan Supreme Court, recaps the controversial recent decisions on health care, abortion, and environmental policy, and covers the historic confirmation of new justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson.

The chapters in this book deal with different, though related, topics concerning the tense relationship between democracy and diversity. On the one hand, social diversity represents an opportunity, widening the horizon of social options and perspectives of innovation, but, on the other hand, it creates problems for the social cohesion and peaceful coexistence of many groups, be they majority or minority. The chapters depart from the intrinsic connection between democracy and diversity – and the unavoidable challenges that pluralism poses to decision-making procedures – investigating, from different perspectives, how the normative requirement of fully respecting agents’ reflexive agency impacts the revision of democratic decision-making procedures and the way in which institutions react to citizens’ justice-based claims. All the contributions share the theoretical insight that diversity is one of the raisons d’être of democracy, and, still, all acknowledge that the fact of pluralism poses challenges to the legitimacy of democratic procedures of decision-making. Indeed, if citizens had the same values and preferences, collective decisions would be easily achieved and the institution of democratic procedures would be redundant. Yet the wide pluralism of doctrines, habits, social standards, and conceptions of the goods typical of contemporary societies has often led citizens to challenge the legitimacy of democratic decisions because these choices do not fit their preferences or values. To address these challenges following recent accounts of democratic decision-making, in this volume, different strategies are introduced, defended, and criticized in order to outline a perspective that is able to guide actual decision-making processes (guidance), define standards that everyone has equal opportunity to fulfil (inclusion), and grant that citizens exercise their reflexive control on the whole democratic system (reflexivity). The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.

Demonstrates why elections fail to promote democracy when countries lack democratic experience and are held during civil conflict.

Critical Theorist Carlos Alberto Torres offers a political sociology of adult learning and education, based on Critical Social Theory and the always inspiring work of Paulo Freire. Empirically grounded and theoretically sophisticated, this new book follows the footsteps of his classic book published in the early nineties The Politics of Nonformal Education in Latin America. Torres book offers comparative and international sociological analyses of adult learning and education, an area in which there is an obsession with ‘practice’ and an aversion to theory, with some notable and laudable exceptions, but which has the potential to provide avenues for social justice education in ways that no other systems and policies can. This book revitalizes social theory in education, and provides ample evidence of the power of adult learning and education, examining a variety of policy documents connected with the various adult education congresses promoted by the UNESCO, which are thoroughly scrutinized for what they bring to or omit from the policy agenda. In the context of new developments in adult learning and education, particularly the impact of multiple globalizations, neoliberalism, and the new role of international organizations in reconceptualizing lifelong learning, new evidence-based research, new narratives, and the vibrancy of social movements striving for a new and possible world, it is clear that new theoretical designs were needed making this is a must-read book.