Machine generated contents note: 1.Introduction -- Three theoretical perspectives -- Purpose and content of the book -- 2.Extremism -- Conceptual problems -- Othmar Spann and aristocratic conservatism -- Fascism and National Socialism -- Stalinism and Marxism-Leninism -- Theocratic extremism -- Murray Rothbard and libertarianism -- Conclusion -- 3.Neathena: assembly democracy -- Theory -- Bookchin's libertarian municipalism -- Practice -- The power of the ekklesia in Athens -- The longevity of the Landsgemeinde in Switzerland -- Town Meeting in New England -- The Orcamento Participativo in Porto Alegre -- Assembly democracy in political movements -- Evaluation -- 4.Jacobinland: bounded-delegate democracy -- Theory -- Jacobins and sans-culottes: disciples of Rousseau? -- Neo-Jacobins and other democratic radicals in the nineteenth century -- The Paris Commune and Karl Marx -- Soviet democracy and Lenin -- Council-democracy and Pannekoek -- The New Left, autogestion' and council-democracy -- Populist democracy: Torbjorn Tannsjo and Heinz Dieterich -- Practice -- Populist democracy in Venezuela? -- Plebiscitary democracy in Switzerland and the United States -- Evaluation -- 5.Aleatoria: sortitionist democracy -- Theory -- Barbara Goodwin's House of Lots -- John Burnheim's demarchy -- Strong sortitionism: the citizen juries of Simon Threlkeld -- Strong sortitionism: the Partido Azar -- Sortitionism balanced with electoralism: Callenbach and Phillips -- Sortitionism balanced with electoralism: Sutherland and the Kleroterians -- Sortitionism subordinated to electoralism: Zakaras, O'Leary and Leib -- Pros and cons of sortitionism -- Practice -- The Council and the courts in Athens -- Sortition and the jury system -- Opinion polls, citizen assemblies and juries -- Evaluation -- 6.Conclusion: extremist theories and radical practices.
Summary:
"Democracy and extremism are usually considered opposites. We assume our system (in the UK, the USA, The Netherlands etc.) is democratic and extremists try to destroy our system and introduce some kind of dictatorship, if not chaos and anarchy. Yet in many cases, the extremists seem sincere in their attempt to construct a more democratic polity. Hence, they can be called democrats and yet also extremists, in so far as they strive for a regime with characteristics that are more extreme in a significant sense.This book analyses radical and extreme democratic theories and ideas in their historical context, interlocked with a critical description of historical institutions and experiments that help to evaluate the theories. Cases vary from ancient Athens to recent experiments with citizen juries and citizen assemblies, from the time-honoured Swiss Landsgemeinde to contemporary (and controversial) workers councils in Venezuela and participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre. Among the theorists discussed here are familiar names as well as relatively unknown persons: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Marx, Murray Bookchin and John Burnheim, William Godwin and Barbara Goodwin, Anton Pannekoek and Heinz Dieterich. Whereas the extreme ideas do not seem to work very well in practice, they do indicate ways we could make existing political systems more democratic.This book will be of interest to students of Politics and Current Affairs as well as inspiration for political activists and reformists"-- Provided by publisher. "This book analyses radical and extreme democratic theories and ideas in their historical context, interlocked with a critical description of historical institutions and experiments that help to evaluate the theories"-- Provided by publisher.
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