This book discusses opportunities and limitations to democratic participation in institutions and organizations across the life course. It demonstrates that democratic participation is not something that is learned once and for all and applied in formal political settings, but something that is lived every day throughout life in various contexts. Institutions and organizations frame human lives and strongly determine the ability to participate and co-determine their communities. They are places for learning, deliberation and the development of the common good. The book conceptually and empirically analyses the potential of democratic participation within various institutions. The contributions range from early childhood institutions, schools, youth programs, workplaces, and vocational education to cultural organizations and nursing homes for the elderly. The book thereby provides a cross-sectional and interdisciplinary knowledge base to inspire future research and practical efforts to promote democratic participation within and across institutions around the world.

As democracy has become the preferred system of government in the hemisphere in the past thirty years or so, its promotion and defense have also become the cornerstone and raison d’être of the Organization of American States (OAS)—the central and principal inter-governmental institution in the Western Hemisphere. Perina’s book presents a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of its new role in promoting and defending democracy in the Americas from an insider’s perspective; examines how exactly it performs its role among its member states; points out the tensions, weaknesses and shortcomings that constrain its performance; and suggests ways of strengthening it. This unique perspective offers substantive information, insight, and theoretical and empirical analysis that provide readers with greater knowledge and understanding of the complex workings of the Organization. The book echoes the author’s belief in its usefulness, relevance and potential as the most important hemispheric multilateral organization for the promotion and defense of democracy and human rights.

Education theorists, demonstrating that a democratically informed education is not an outmoded idea, establish intellectual foundations for revitalizing American schools and offer ideas for how the educational process can become more democratic. An initial series of articles reexamines the original premise of American education as articulated by thinkers like Jefferson and Dewey. A second set identifies flaws in how schools are currently governed and offers models for change. The final group analyzes the implications for education posed by value conflicts arising over the twin strands of a democracy: socialization and governance. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The contributions in this book address the question of how to develop and foster democratic competences. This may take place via school curricula, resource materials and teaching/learning methods; in workplaces by means of formalised arrangements that encourage self-direction and through the informal processes engendered by expansive working environments; and in personal and community life, including in the course of incidental learning in social networks. The studies and analyses are somewhat nonconformist in its thematic spread and its boundary-crossing between disciplines and perspectives that conventionally live separate lives.

Explores some central tenets of modern economics, subjecting them to trenchant examination - including the case for free trade and the inevitability of ever more grotesque income inequalities. The book argues that there is a feasible alternative in a democratically controlled economic strategy