Democracy and the future : future-regarding governance in democratic systems / edited by Michael K. MacKenzie, Maija Setälä and Simo Kyllönen.
- Format:
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- Contributor:
-
- Series:
-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
-
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (xi, 321 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2023.
- Language Note:
- In English.
- Summary:
- This book brings together political philosophers, democratic theorists, empirical political scientists and policy experts to examine how democratic systems might be designed so that the long-term consequences of our decisions are considered in policymaking processes. It examines these topics from many different perspectives - it is interdisciplinary and globally oriented - but it also explores Finland as an example of how future-regarding governance might be done. Finland has one of the most advanced governmental foresight systems in the world, including a unique parliamentary institution called the 'Committee for the Future', and it has enjoyed a stable, multiparty government for decades. The contributors identify tensions between the present and the future, as well as between reversibility and commitment, independence and politicisation, and trust and critique, which have to be navigated in order to achieve long-term, collective goals. The book concludes that elite-driven institutions should be complemented by robust institutions for public participation and deliberation in order to retain responsiveness while at the same time forging public commitments for future-regarding action.
- Contents:
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- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- FIGURES AND TABLES
- CONTRIBUTORS
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- INTRODUCTION The Challenges and Possibilities of Future-Regarding Governance
- Part One The Challenges of Long-Term Decision Making
- ONE Three Challenges for Long-Term Decision-Making in Democracies: Boundaries, Knowledge and Incentives
- TWO Democratic Weakness of Will
- THREE Reversibility and Democracy: The Epistemic Functions of Political Competition
- FOUR The Covid-19 Pandemic and Global Climate Change: Comparing Two Long-term Dangers
- Part Two Thinking and Acting in Future-Regarding Ways
- FIVE Perspective-Taking, Deliberation and Future Generations
- SIX Hearing Silent Voices? Representing Identified and Statistical Policy Victims
- SEVEN Future-Regarding Democratic Leadership
- Part Three Institutional Design
- EIGHT Democratic Design for Future-Regarding Institutions
- NINE Democratic Institutions and Future Generations
- Part Four Long-Term Policymaking in Finland
- TEN The Finnish National Foresight System
- ELEVEN Voter Myopia Reassessed
- TWELVE Deliberative Minipublics and Climate Change Policy
- THIRTEEN Conclusion: Future-Regarding Governance - Four Tensions and a Research Agenda
- REFERENCES
- INDEX
- Notes:
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- Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 07 Mar 2025).
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 1-3995-1276-5
- OCLC:
- 1417147676
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