The End of Representative Politics (eBook)

Simon Tormey (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2015 | 1. Auflage
200 Seiten
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-0-7456-9545-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Representative politics is in crisis. Trust in politicians
is at an all-time low. Fewer people are voting or joining political
parties, and our interest in parliamentary politics is declining
fast. Even oppositional and radical parties that should be
benefitting from public disenchantment with politics are
suffering.

But different forms of political activity are emerging to
replace representative politics: instant politics, direct action,
insurgent politics. We are leaving behind traditional
representation, and moving towards a politics without
representatives. In this provocative new book, Simon Tormey
explores the changes that are underway, drawing on a rich range of
examples from the Arab Spring to the Indignados uprising in Spain,
street protests in Brazil and Turkey to the emergence of new
initiatives such as Anonymous and Occupy.



Tormey argues that the easy assumptions that informed our thinking
about the nature and role of parties, and 'party based
democracy' have to be rethought. We are entering a period of
fast politics, evanescent politics, a politics of the street, of
the squares, of micro-parties, pop-up parties, and demonstrations.
This may well be the end of representative politics as we know it,
but an exciting new era of political engagement is just
beginning.

Autor

Simon Tormey is a political theorist based in the School of Social and Political Sciences. Prior to his appointment at Sydney in 2009 he was Professor and Head of the School of Politics and International Relations and founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice (CSSGJ) at the University of Nottingham UK.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements vi

Introduction 1

1 Contours of a 'Crisis' 15

2 Locating 'Representative Politics' 37

3 Are We Becoming Unrepresentable? 59

4 Is the Party Over? 83

5 Citizens against Representation 105

6 Democracy after Representation 125

Notes 150

References 152

Index 160

Rezensionen

Spirited and clearly written, Tormey's searching interrogation of political representation as we've come to know it is sharp, provocative and compelling. Drawing widely on history, theory and contemporary developments, it will bring a new vibrancy to current debates on democracy's potential futures.
Michael Saward, University of Warwick

Timely, provocative and rigorous too. Tormey has produced an important resource for all who share the hunch that far from politics being dead, a new kind of politics is being born and with it a more pervasive democracy for which we all have responsibility.
Hilary Wainwright, author of Reclaim the State: Experiments in Popular Democracy, and a founding editor of Red Pepper.

"The book is informative and clearly written and provides fresh insights on the transformation of representative politics. It gives a new approach to our understanding of contemporary politics."
Political Studies Review

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.6.2015
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Vergleichende Politikwissenschaften
• Schlagworte: Democratic Systems • Demokratie • Demokratische Systeme • Political Issues & Behavior • Political Science • Political Systems • Politik • Politikwissenschaft • Politische Fragen u. politisches Verhalten • Politische Systeme • Repräsentative Demokratie • Repräsentative Demokratie
• ISBN-10: 0-7456-9545-0 / 0745695450
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-9545-7 / 9780745695457