Elective Area of Honors - Civic and Community of Engagement
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Jeremy Cohen, Thesis Supervisor Jeremy Cohen, Thesis Supervisor John Philip Christman, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Democracy
Abstract:
This series of essays is divided into four parts and explores Benjamin Barber’s theory of strong democracy as presented in his work Strong Democracy. Pursuant to Barber’s idea of strong democracy, this series of essays connects the idea of deliberative democracy with the idea of participatory democracy. Toward this end, in Part 1 I explore idea of deliberative democracy, specifically the three dispositions of liberal democracy; in Part 2, I explore the foil to the three dispositions of liberal democracy, namely strong democracy; in Part 3, I link the idea of deliberative democracy with the idea of participatory democracy through the use of interviews with prominent practitioners of civic and community engagement and corresponding commentary; and in Part 4, I provide a personal narrative focusing on my own experiences with the discipline of philosophy, and the relationship of such experiences with the ideas of deliberative and participatory democracy.