PEER-REVIEWED
FROM LIVED URBAN EXPERIENCES TO CROSS-CONTEXTUAL THEORY: A SELECTION DILEMMA
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2023
Political theorists are often interested in the problems that arise in more than one context; for example, problems that arise on a global level or among different cultural contexts. However, when political theorists engage with such problems, they face a methodological challenge. They need to decide how to evaluate differences both across and within the contexts in which the studied problem arises and determine how to create theories that are sensitive to the pluralism of real-life experiences. This article investigates the methodological challenge of selection, and offers a method for accommodating difference across and within different contexts. To demonstrate both the significance of this challenge and the suitability of the proposed solution, this article focuses on a set of empirically inspired arguments concerned with the normative questions of urban life. Even though their authors declare an explicit focus on the pluralism of lived experiences when constructing a theory, the selected arguments reflect a surprisingly narrow scope of urban experiences. This article investigates this tension.
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SOCIAL CHOICE AND CITIZEN PARTICIPATION:
BRIDGING DEMOCRATIC THEORY AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
with Rod Dacombe
Political Studies Review, forthcoming
In this article we argue that public administration scholarship would benefit from a deeper connection with democratic theory. In particular, we suggest that our ability to make assessments like these over the functioning of citizen participation initiatives would be strengthened by a closer engagement with the contributions made by social choice theorists. We aim to promote a constructive dialogue, suggesting that considering social choice perspectives in analyses of participation might allow the claims made by proponents of citizen involvement in public administration to be strengthened considerably. We show how insights from social choice theory can be valuable in making clear where citizen participation initiatives are not functioning as intended, for instance by demonstrating that the process of aggregation of individual inputs, like preferences, judgments or opinions, into collective outputs might in some circumstances undermine the reasons why citizens have been involved in the first place. We also highlight the ways social choice theory can provide support for proponents of participation, by clarifying aggregation procedures and demonstrating instances of manipulation.
UNDERSTANDING MEGACITIES. AN ARGUMENT ON THE ROLE OF DEMOCRATIC IDEALS.
Political Geography, 2022
According to the popular view, megacities are troubled polities and unlikely places for the realisation of democratic ideals. This article challenges the popular view and points out the relevance of the democratic ideals employed in such an assessment. It argues that concerns regarding the undemocratic character of megacities are rooted in either constitutional or radical democratic ideals, but that neither of these ideals is suitable for the assessment of megacities. As a result, this article offers a conceptual adjustment. It argues that to identify the challenges to and opportunities for democratic governance in megacities, we should investigate whether megacities promote their inhabitants' political agency, with respect to their equality. This perspective provides a more comprehensive view of megacities’ political organisation, clarifies the nature of existing obstacles, and offers a feasible path for democratic reforms in this context.
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PARTICIPATION IS NOT ENOUGH: AN ARGUMENT FOR EMANCIPATION AS A FOUNDATION OF PARTICIPATORY THEORISING
Representation, 2022
Contemporary participatory theory remains in a problematic disconnect from political practice. This disconnect is often a source of criticism and leads to accusations of the idealistic nature of participatory theory. In this article, I argue that the reasons for this disconnect lie in the theoretical tools used by participatory theorists. While the theory relies on an assumption of the educational effects of political participation and the possibility of societal transformation, the core concepts of the theory do not enable the identification of potential obstacles for such transformation. Consequently, this article argues for incorporating a previously overlooked concept and an ideal of political emancipation into the core of participatory theorising. By incorporating political emancipation into its vocabulary, participatory theory can successfully address the disconnect from political practice and provide guidance in establishing improved political arrangements.
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MENDING DEMOCRACY: DEMOCRATIC REPAIR IN DISCONNECTED TIMES (BOOK REVIEW)
A book review of the book: Mending democracy: democratic repair in disconnected times by Carolyn M. Hendriks, Selen A. Ercan and John Boswell (UOP).
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Democratization, 2022
TOWARDS INTERSECTIONAL DEMOCRATIC INNOVATIONS
Political Studies, 2019
While scholarship on intersectionality has emphasised the need to go beyond single categories of identity, like gender or race, intersectionality has not been considered to date within the literature on democratic innovations, even though enhancing inclusion is a key aim of such institutions. This article overcomes this gap. It analyses tools of inclusion within democratic innovations and argues they are not responsive to intersectionality claims. This article shows that current democratic innovations are explicitly exclusionary towards the groups which need the attention of the democratic scholars the most. To address this problem, this article argues for a move away from advocating for single or ‘one-off’ acts of inclusion and towards a more direct focus on facilitating leadership of the disempowered and diversification of the contexts of democratic innovations. Such changes can increase the sensitivity of democratic innovations but can also facilitate a wider social change.
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COMPLETELY THEORIZED AGREEMENTS. A DIFFERENT READING OF THE CONSENSUS PARADOX HYPOTHESES
Journal of Deliberative Democracy, 2019
This article contributes to the debate on the consensus and deliberation. While the relevant literature claims that consensus undermines further deliberation, this article argues that it depends on the aim of the process. In particular, I argue that if the aim of deliberation is understood as reaching a certain epistemic level, reaching consensus does not need to decrease the rationality of the group. In short, such deliberation is a process of debate, reason-giving and listening which aims at establishing a result of certain epistemic value. In order to shed new light on the debates on the consequences of consensus for further deliberation, I introduce a detailed conceptualization of a full agreement. I call it Completely Theorized Agreements. In this article, I argue that reaching consensus in an epistemic setting does not need to have negative consequences. Further, I argue, that the truth-tracking quality of deliberation need not be worse in a group that reached a full consensus as opposed to a partial one.
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REPORTS AND EVIDENCE
BREAKING POINT: THE COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS IN LONDON, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT
King's College London, 2023
The Policy Institute and Department for Political Economy at King’s College London has been working with residents of the London Boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Westminster, along with policymakers, charities and grassroots organisations, to better understand the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and how to mitigate the worst effects of it.
Report by Haggar, T., Hewlett, K., Hall, S., Piggott, H., Regan, Z., Hesketh, R., Wojciechowska, M., & Dacombe, R.
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EXPERIENCING THE COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS: THE IMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH
King's College London, 2023
The Policy Institute and the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health at King’s College London have been conducting mixed-methods research that aims to understand how the cost-of-living crisis is impacting on people’s everyday lives. As part of this, we conducted a two-wave longitudinal survey to track concerns about increasing costs, how people were coping, and attitudes towards welfare. As mental health and wellbeing emerged as a key concern in wave 1, wave 2 was developed to ask about mental health and wellbeing in more depth, including the use of validated mental health measures.
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Report by Lawson, G., Haggar, T., Hewlett, K., Hall, S., Piggott, H., Hesketh, R., Regan, Z., Wojciechowska, M., Dacombe, R., & Morgan, C.
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LONDON DURING THE PANDEMIC: LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND INEQUALITY
A report on the state of London governance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report is a result of the ESRC-funded project on London Governance (ref: ES/V009346/1)
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King's College London, 2022
A REPORT ON FINDINGS FROM A SCOPING REVIEW
Manchester Metropolitan, 2022
The report presents findings from a scoping review of the literature and a series of expert interviews carried out between April and December 2021. The purpose of both the scoping review and the interviews was to gain an overview of recent practice in participatory governance, looking at initiatives across Europe over the past decade. Authors: Bussu, S., Golan Y., Hargreaves A. with: Bua A., Falanga R., Fleuß D., Forde C., Williams E., Wojciechowska M
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WRITTEN EVIDENCE
House of Lords Constitution Committee, 2021
Written evidence for the Inquiry into the Future governance of the UK (FGU0019) by Dacombe, R., Allen, G., Carugati, F., Blick, A., Bol, D., Duffy, B., Wojciechowska, M.