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Modern Democracy (modern + democracy)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	50%

Selected Abstracts

Thirty years of social accounting, reporting and auditing: what (if anything) have we learnt?

BUSINESS ETHICS: A EUROPEAN REVIEW, Issue 1 2001
Rob Gray
In an increasingly complex world with increasingly powerful organisations it seems inevitable that society , or groups in society , would become anxious about whether these organisations could be encouraged to match that power with an appropriate responsibility. This is the function of accountability , to require individuals and organisations to present an account of those actions for which society holds them , or would wish to hold them , responsible. And the history of social accounting, at its most fundamental, is a history of attempts to develop this accountability. It seems to me that the widespread and systematic practice of social and environmental accounting is a deeply essential element in any well-functioning, complex democracy. The corollary is that the absence of such mechanisms raises fundamental questions about the nature of modern democracies. This article briefly outlines what I believe to be the three strands of social accounting. It then identifies a few of the lessons that we may be able to learn from current experience and, in particular, how social accounting is related to accountability, democracy and sustainability. The central issue of the tension between accountability and control is touched upon: I then illustrate how the stakeholder model can be used to help define the social account, and conclude with a few words on attestation. [source]

Democracy through Strong Publics in the European Union?

JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 3 2002
Erik Oddvar Eriksen
This article explores the democratizing role of strong publics, which are institutionalized bodies of deliberation and decision,making. Strong publics are important to modern democracy as they subject decision,making to justificatory debate. This article evaluates selected aspects of the institutional nexus of the EU in order to see if they qualify as strong publics. The focus is on comitology, the European Parliament and the Charter Convention. These bodies vary in their status as strong publics, but to various degrees they all inject the logic of impartial justification and reason,giving into the EU system. [source]

In the twilight of democracy: public affairs consultants in Switzerland

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2009
Adrian Steiner
Modernization processes within different fields of political communication rise new challenges. Public affairs consultants are said to meet these challenges in both an effective and efficient way. Nevertheless, the rise of public affairs consultants also poses the question of their accordance with basic principles of modern democracy. Do public affairs consultants foster or impede the democratic process with respect to participation and representation? This question is answered on the basis of empirical data on public affairs consultants in Switzerland. The analysis points out three distinguishable fields of service: lobbying, political public relations and campaigning. Whereas campaigning has the strongest public-orientation and emphasizes direct democratic institutions, the other two fields tend to be more in the backstage of the public. Results regarding public affairs services suggest a structural discrepancy between public and non-public forms of communication, which according to normative democracy theory has to be judged critically. With view to clients, policy fields and party affiliations, the results show strong imbalances in interest representation, which seem to have mainly structural and economic reasons. In the conclusion, these results are discussed with view to the necessity of more transparency and a further professionalization. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Digital Rank-and-file: Party Activists' Perceptions and Use of the Internet

BRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Issue 4 2004
Wainer Lusoli
Political parties are in a transitional phase. A declining, socially restricted membership, decreasing levels of activism and a shift towards more individualistic modes of political engagement threaten the linkage role that parties have played in modern democracy. The development of the Internet in a period of change has meant that it quickly became intertwined with debates about reviving representative political organisations. Using data from a survey of party activists in the UK (N = 4,770), this article answers questions about the perception and use of new media by party activists, the Internet's potential for members' participation and engagement and the penetration of the Internet in pre-existing political careers. In general, the article asks which role new media are playing in the transition of political parties. [source]