Dramatizing Democracy: Crisis, Civic Education, and the Common Good

DateDecember 6, 2013

Time8:00am to 9:30am

Location
4357 Bunche Hall

Contact

After 9/11, hope arose that democracy in America would be revitalized. Crisis, it was said, “represents an opportunity” for social and political reformation, and the American people will “come together and rise to the occasion.” I examine the philosophical underpinnings of this familiar rhetoric and the belief that crisis may be good for democracy, a belief which runs against traditional views that popular governments cannot cope with crises. What is revealed about our understanding of democracy when we dramatize the state of insecurity as its born-again moment? Crisis-based democracy is compelling because it reframes republican civic virtue, and radical collective action, in ways compatible with modern society and liberal democracy. This formulation, I argue, signifies a transformation of the participatory ideal, from common people arguing together to the heroic transcendence of partisanship. To analyze the crisis/democracy linkage I consider the surprisingly similar democratic theories of Bruce Ackerman and Sheldon Wolin.

Event Details:

Parking | Directions

Please register here: