Democracy as Problem Solving: Civic Capacity in Communities Across the Globe
"If John Dewey, the seminal twentieth-century theorist of democracy as the praxis of community problem-solving, returned to commission case studies about how democracy might work in the twenty-first century, he would be pleased with this important new book. Ranging from growth management in Bombay and Salt Lake City to economic restructuring in Pittsburgh and São Paulo to investing in youth in Cape Town and San Francisco, Xavier de Souza Briggs extracts lessons of importance to urban policy makers and civic activists everywhere."--Robert D. Putnam, Malkin Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University, and author of Bowling Alone"Our theories of democracy lag behind the deep changes in how it works, or fails, globally. Expectations have risen, creating huge potentials and challenges. These new rules about what is democratically legitimate are often more demanding than the physical or economic issues. Briggs charts global transformations and identifies dramatic success in unexpected quarters, from Salt Lake City to Mumbai and Cape Town. Social capital and democracy take on new meaning here as Briggs shows how they are subtly intertwined with political cultures and policy innovation."--Terry Nichols Clark, Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago(Terry Nichols Clark)