Traces the communication strategies of various constituencies in a Chicago neighborhood, offering insights into the challenges that beset diverse urban populations and demonstrating persuasively rhetoric’s power to illuminate and resolve charged conflicts Candice Rai’s Democracy’s Lot is an incisive exploration of the limitations and possibilities of democratic discourse for resolving conflicts in urban communities. Rai roots her study of democratic politics and publics in a range of urban case studies focused on public art, community policing, and urban development. These studies examine the issues that erupted within an ethnically and economically diverse Chicago neighborhood over conflicting visions for a vacant lot called Wilson Yard. Tracing how residents with disparate agendas organized factions and deployed language, symbols, and other rhetorical devices in the struggle over Wilson Yard’s redevelopment and other contested public spaces, Rai demonstrates that rhetoric is not solely a tool of elite communicators, but rather a framework for understanding the agile communication strategies that are improvised in the rough-and-tumble work of democratic life. Wilson Yard, a lot eight blocks north of Wrigley Field in Chicago’s gentrifying Uptown neighborhood, is a diverse enclave of residents enlivened by recent immigrants from Guatemala, Mexico, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and elsewhere. The neighborhood’s North Broadway Street witnesses a daily multilingual hubbub of people from a wide spectrum of income levels, religions, sexual identifications, and interest groups. When a fire left the lot vacant, this divided community projected on Wilson Yard disparate and conflicting aspirations, the resolution of which not only determined the fate of this particular urban space, but also revealed the lot of democracy itself as a process of complex problem-solving. Rai’s detailed study of one block in an iconic American city brings into vivid focus the remarkable challenges that beset democratic urban populations anywhere on the globe—and how rhetoric supplies a framework to understand and resolve those challenges. Based on exhaustive field work, Rai uses rhetorical ethnography to study competing publics, citizenship, and rhetoric in action, exploring “rhetorical invention,” the discovery or development by individuals of the resources or methods of engaging with and persuading others. She builds a case for democratic processes and behaviors based not on reflexive idealism but rather on the hard work and practice of democracy, which must address apathy, passion, conflict, and ambivalence.

By illuminating the complexities and interrelations of the global community, this excellent resource helps students and other researchers enhance their global awareness on the topic of democracy. Readers will explore the relationship between democracy and government in several countries, including Spain, South Korea, Columbia and Ghana, as well as the relationship between democracy and equality. What is the role of activist groups in promoting democracy in Central and Eastern Europe? Can international pressure force Burma to democratize? Does the United States actively promote democracy in the developing world? This collection of essays provides the answers to these questions and more. Reader will also look at the impact of economics, including taxes and wealth distribution, on democratic growth.

Winner of the Goldsmith Book Prize, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Winner of the Tankard Book Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Winner of the Frank Luther Mott–Kappa Tau Alpha Journalism & Mass Communication Research Award In democratic societies, investigative journalism holds government and private institutions accountable to the public. From firings and resignations to changes in budgets and laws, the impact of this reporting can be significant—but so too are the costs. As newspapers confront shrinking subscriptions and advertising revenue, who is footing the bill for journalists to carry out their essential work? Democracy’s Detectives puts investigative journalism under a magnifying glass to clarify the challenges and opportunities facing news organizations today. “Hamilton’s book presents a thoughtful and detailed case for the indispensability of investigative journalism—and just at the time when we needed it. Now more than ever, reporters can play an essential role as society’s watchdogs, working to expose corruption, greed, and injustice of the years to come. For this reason, Democracy’s Detectives should be taken as both a call to arms and a bracing reminder, for readers and journalists alike, of the importance of the profession.” —Anya Schiffrin, The Nation “A highly original look at exactly what the subtitle promises...Has this topic ever been more important than this year?” —Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution

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.

"Containing the public messages, speeches, and statements of the President", 1956-1992.

The book compares five newly emerged democracies in Europe, South East Asia, Latin America and Africa. Cutting across vastly dif¬fer¬ent historical and cultural backgrounds it tells the story of how societies come to terms with a painful past and how politics, culture and the economy intertwine in the process of creating new democratic nations.

The liberating promise of big data and social media to create more responsive democracies and workplaces is overshadowed by a nightmare of election meddling, privacy invasion, fake news and an exploitative gig economy. Yet, while regressive forces spread disinformation and hate, 'guerrilla democrats' continue to foster hope and connection through digital technologies. This book offers an in-depth analysis of platform-based radical movements, from the online coalitions of voters and activists to the Deliveroo and Uber strikes. Combining cutting edge theories with empirical research, it makes an invaluable contribution to the emerging literature on the relationship between technology and society.

During the 1970s todays Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung, BMBWF) supported the founding of the Center for Austrian Studies at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and the Austrian Chair at Stanford University in California. These foundings were the initial incentives for the worldwide `spreading' of similar institutions; currently, nine Centers for Austrian and Central European Studies exist in seven countries on three continents. The funding of the Ministry enables to connect senior scholars with young scholars, to help young PhD students, to participate in and to benefit from the scientific connection of experienced researchers, and to get in touch with the national scientific community by `sniffing scientific air', as the Austrians like to say. Furthermore, it aims to avoid prejudices, and to spread a better understanding and knowledge about Austria and Central Europe by promoting scientific exchange.