"IN MODERN NATIONS, POLITICAL DISAGREEMENT IS THE SOURCE OF BOTH THE
GRAVEST DANGER AND THE GREATEST SECURITY," writes Cass Sunstein. All
democracies face intense political conflict. But is this conflict
necessarily something to fear? In this provocative book, one of our
leading political and legal theorists reveals how a nation's divisions
of conviction and belief can be used to safeguard democracy.
Confronting one explosive political issue after another, from
presidential impeachment to the limits of religious liberty, from
discrimination against women and gays to the role of the judiciary,
Sunstein constructs a powerful new perspective from which to show how
democracies negotiate their most divisive real-world problems. He
focuses on a series of concrete concerns that go to the heart of the
relationship between the idea of democracy and the idea of
constitutionalism. Illustrating his discussion with examples from
constitutional debates and court-cases in South Africa, Eastern
Europe, Israel, America, and elsewhere, Sunstein takes readers through
a number of highly charged questions: _When should government be
permitted to control discriminatory behavior by or within religious
organizations? Does it make sense to govern on the basis of popular
referenda? Can the right to have an abortion be defended? Can we
defend Internet regulation? Should the law step in if children are
being schooled in discriminatory preferences and beliefs? Should a
constitution protect rights to food, shelter, and health care?_
Disputes over questions such as these can be fierce enough to pose a
grave threat. But in a paradox whose elaboration forms the core of
Sunstein's book, it is a nation's apparently threatening diversity of
opinion that can ensure its integrity. Extending his important recent
work on the way deliberation within like-minded groups can produce
extremism, Sunstein breaks new ground in identifying the mechanisms
behind political conflict in democratic nations. At the same time, he
develops a profound understanding of a constitutional democracy's
system of checks and balances. Sunstein shows how a good constitution,
fostering a "republic of reasons," enables people of opposing ethical
and religious commitments to reach agreement where agreement is
necessary, while making it unnecessary to reach agreement when
agreement is impossible. A marvel of lucid, subtle reasoning,
_DESIGNING DEMOCRACY_ makes invaluable reading for anyone concerned
with the promises and pitfalls of the democratic experiment.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780190287023
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter