1/29/2024 0 Comments Democracy for the few![]() Appearances in media Īpart from several recordings of some of his public speeches, Parenti has also appeared in the 1992 documentary The Panama Deception, the 2004 Liberty Bound and 2013 Fall and Winter documentaries as an author and social commentator. He also is on the advisory boards of Independent Progressive Politics Network and Education Without Borders as well as the advisory editorial boards of New Political Science and Nature, Society and Thought. He served for 12 years as a judge for Project Censored. In 2007, he received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from U.S. In 2003, the Caucus for a New Political Science gave him a Career Achievement Award. ![]() In the 1980s, he was a visiting fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. Parenti was once a friend of Bernie Sanders, but he later split with Sanders over Sanders's support for the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. House of Representatives in Vermont as the candidate of the democratic socialist Liberty Union Party he came in third place, with 7.1% of the vote. In recent years he has addressed such subjects as "Empires: Past and Present," "US Interventionism: the Case of Iraq," "Race, Gender, and Class Power," "Ideology and History," "The Overthrow of Communism," and "Terrorism and Globalization." society,Įconomy, and political institutions and a college-level political science textbook published by Wadsworth Publishing. His book Democracy for the Few, now in its ninth edition, is a critical analysis of U.S. politics, culture, ideology, political economy, imperialism, fascism, communism, democratic socialism, free-market orthodoxies, conservative judicial activism, religion, ancient history, modern history, historiography, repression in academia, news and entertainment media, technology, environmentalism, sexism, racism, Venezuela, the wars in Iraq and Yugoslavia, ethnicity, and his own early life. Parenti's writings cover a wide range of subjects: U.S. Parenti lectures frequently throughout the United States and abroad. His works have been translated into at least 18 languages. He is the author of 20 books and over 300 articles. Eventually he devoted himself full-time to writing, public speaking, and political activism. Finally, I suggest that to strengthen liberal democracy, citizens must participate in it and leaders must work for the good of the entire community, not just the few.For many years Parenti taught political and social science at various institutions of higher learning. Some aspects of liberal democratic culture have remained strong (voter turnout and volunteerism are high, and many citizens serve in elected office and on government committees) others, however, have weak roots that were never cultivated and continue to weaken further (equality, inclusion, open debate). I find that although it is relatively small and isolated, the drivers of democratic decline have found their way into this tiny community. ![]() I draw on this argument as a guide to assess the strength of liberal democracy in a small population living in rural Alpine County, California. The main challenge to this threefold foundation’s strength is neoliberalism, which all authors agree has led to liberal democracy’s decline. The general thrust of these books is this: a strong liberal democracy rests on three cultural foundations: the strength of social bonds, the level of deliberative civil discourse, and the level of economic equality. And for all, the answer is “yes, but….” They make strikingly similar arguments about the sources of this culture’s strength, the causes of its current weakness, and how it can be strengthened. Has this culture lost its strength? Is the collective experience and belief in democratic legitimacy disappearing? Are liberal values increasingly contested? All of the theorists under review address these questions. This culture is made up of three components: a cluster of liberal values (rule of law, freedom, equality, and reason), a democratic governing system grounded in popular sovereignty, and a collective experience of shared respect for liberal values and democratic institutions. ![]() A review and application of Degenerations of Democracy, by Craig Calhoun, Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar, and Charles Taylor (hereafter, CGT) Liberalism and Its Discontents, by Francis Fukuyama and How Democracies Live, by Stein Ringen.Ī strengthened liberal democratic culture is essential for the health and vitality of democracy.
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