Practicing democracy
Subtitle: local activism and politics in France and Finland
By: Eeva Luhtakallio, University of Helsinki, Finland
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 250
ISBN-13: 9780230309296
Subjects: Politics and government; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Policy; Democracy; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Government / Local; Comparative government; Practical Politics; Political participation; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Urban
Description: This book is about the mundane, local, every day practices that constitutes democracy. It defines politicization as the key process in understanding democracy in different cultural contexts throughstudies ofFrance and Finland. By means of comparative ethnographic, media, and visual analysis that focuseson how democracy is actually practiced in different contexts, thiswork sets outa more nuanced and controversial picture of two opposite models of European politics. The familiar juxtaposition of Southern and Northern political cultures is set in a new perspective through comparative analyses of politicizations: the processes of opening political arenas and recognizing controversy. The book explores the ways in which people in different contexts deliberate, resist, and politicize, and hence practice, challenge, and transform democracy in ways that are of relevance to all political systems.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.