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Envisioning Democracy

Envisioning Democracy

New Essays after Sheldon Wolin’s Political Thought

Edited by Terry Maley and John R. Wallach

Published by: University of Toronto Press

Imprint: University of Toronto Press

2 b&w figures

Digital download
9781487554040
Published: February 2023

Digital download
9781487569136
Published: February 2023

Description
Contents
Authors

Few terms elicit such strong and varied feelings and yet have so little clarity as "democracy." Leaders of large states use "democracy" to designate their nations’ public character even as critics and rivals use the term to validate their own political perspectives. In Envisioning Democracy, the editors and contributors address the following questions: What does democracy mean today? What could it mean tomorrow? What is the dynamic of democracy in an increasingly interdependent world?

Envisioning Democracy explores these questions amid the dynamic of democracy as a political phenomenon interacting with forms of economic, ethical, ethnic, and intellectual life. The book draws on the work of Sheldon S. Wolin (1922–2015), one of the most influential American theorists of the last fifty years. Here, scholars consider the historical conditions, theoretical elements, and practical impediments to democracy, using Wolin’s insights as touchstones in thinking through the possibilities and obstacles facing democracy now and in the future.

Introduction

Section 1: Wolin and Democratic Theory – Ancient Roots, Modern Issues

1. Interpreting Democracy in Undemocratic Societies
John R. Wallach

2. Aristotle on Enmity: Ideology, Somatic Justice, and Emotions
Ingrid Creppell

3. Sheldon Wolin and Democratic “Theory”
Jason Frank

Section 2: Memory and Myth in Wolin and Beyond

4. Wolin on Myth: A Critique
Terence Ball

5. Social Amnesia in Canada’s TRC: Sheldon Wolin, Radical Indigenous Thought, and the Settler-Colonial Politics of Reconciliation
Calvin L. Lincez

Section 3: Democracy and Political Education: Wolin and Contemporary Interlocutors

6. Realistic Political Education
Stephen Esquith

7. Wolin and Said on Political Education, Vision, and Intellectual Tradition
Lucy Cane

Section 4: Thinking with and beyond Wolin – Current Democratic Practices and Issues

8. Democracy between Reactionary Tribalism and the Megastate
Iain Webb

9. The Historical Fate of Fugitive Democracy Today
Terry Maley

10. Transformative Sanctuary: Rethinking Fugitive Democracy and Black Fugitivity with Frontline Communities in the Underground Railroad
Romand Coles and Lia Haro

11. Visioning Limits or Unlimited Vision? The Vocation of Political Theory in the Anthropocene
Andrew Biro

Terry Maley is an associate professor of politics at York University.

John R. Wallach is a retired professor of political science at Hunter College & The Graduate Center of The City University of New York.