Books by Mc edu CreativDec
Democratizing Public Services , 2022
As technological innovations continue to proliferate, new modes of shared
decision-making and in... more As technological innovations continue to proliferate, new modes of shared
decision-making and inclusive empowering public engagement have not.
Too many put their faith in new apps, algorithms and the internet of things,
and talk excitedly about a green transition, but where is the enthusiasm and
curiosity for new mechanisms of accountable democratic governance and
creative multi-stakeholder collaborations?
In this essay, we argue that democratizing public services, especially water
and electricity, is essential for a just, sustainable and resilient production and
allocation of the public goods needed to promote human flourishing and
a healthy planet. We believe that democratizing public utilities can help to
address our political institutions’ legitimacy crisis by showing that democracy can be innovative and empowering, and a trust-enhancing alternative to an increasingly oligopolistic economy and political authoritarianism.
Temple University Press, 2018
Argues that democratic theory and practice need to shift their focus from elections and represent... more Argues that democratic theory and practice need to shift their focus from elections and representation to sharing power and property in government and the economy.
Participatory democracy calls for the creation and proliferation of practices and institutions that enable individuals and groups to better determine the conditions in which they act and relate to others. Michael Menser's timely book We Decide! is arguably the most comprehensive treatment of participatory democracy. He explains the three waves of participatory democracy theory to show that this movement is attentive to the mechanics of contemporary political practices. Menser also outlines "maximal democracy," his own view of participatory democracy that expands people's abilities to shape their own lives, reduce inequality, and promote solidarity.
We Decide! draws on liberal, feminist, anarchist, and environmental justice philosophies as well as in-depth case studies of Spanish factory workers, Japanese housewives, and Brazilian socialists to show that participatory democracy actually works. Menser concludes his study by presenting a reconstructed version of the state that is shaped not by corporations but by inclusive communities driven by municipal workers, elected officials, and ordinary citizens working together. In this era of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, the participatory democracy proposed in We Decide! is more significant than ever.
Papers by Mc edu CreativDec
The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest
The Philosophers' Magazine
Journal of Social Philosophy, 2008
In a recent essay in a special issue of this journal on global democracy, Daniel Weinstock argues... more In a recent essay in a special issue of this journal on global democracy, Daniel Weinstock argues that there are “two sets of reasons one might have to think that global democracy would be a good thing.” The first rationale deems global democracy desirable because it would allow individuals to “exercise political agency.” 1 Institutional design, then, should promote the active participation of persons in the collective project of governance if not full-blown “selfgovernment.” The alternate form of justification argues that the project of global ...
Democracy, States, and the Struggle for Social Justice, 2009
Tecnociencia y Cibercultura, 1998
250 1 CIC-UCAB/0216 20040107 GPM, 1998
El presente libro pone de manifiesto que la tecnología es cultura y ha invadido nuestro mundo has... more El presente libro pone de manifiesto que la tecnología es cultura y ha invadido nuestro mundo hasta el punto de haberse convertido en el discurso dominante en política, medicina, medios de comunicación, religión e incluso la vida cotidiana. Críticos, escritores y teóricos exploran y desarrollan aquí un nuevo método de análisis cultural centrado en la tecnología y demuestran, a partir de varias cuestiones básicas-¿ cómo se relacionan entre sí la tecnología y la ciencia?,¿ cómo organizan, orientan e incluso crean el paisaje de la ...
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene
The knowledge of unsustainable human and Earth system interactions is widespread, especially in l... more The knowledge of unsustainable human and Earth system interactions is widespread, especially in light of systemic environmental injustices. Systems science has enabled complex and rigorous understandings of human and Earth system dynamics, particularly relating to pollution of Earth’s land, water, air, and organisms. Given that many of these systems are not functioning sustainably or optimally, how might this field enable both rigorous understanding of the issues and experiments aimed at alternative outcomes? Here, we put forth a novel, multiscale systems science approach with three steps: (1) understanding the systemic issues at hand, (2) identifying systemic interventions, and (3) applying experiments to study the efficacy of such interventions. We illustrate this framework through the ubiquitous and yet frequently underrecognized issue of soil lead (Pb). First, we describe the systemic interactions of humans and soil Pb at micro-, meso-, and macroscales in time and space. We then...
The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, 2009
The challenges and opportunities for resilience for urban estuaries such as Jamaica Bay come from... more The challenges and opportunities for resilience for urban estuaries such as Jamaica Bay come from the people who live, work, and visit there. Soils, rocks, and the weather; birds, fish, and salt marsh grasses, may or may not be resilient on their own terms, but what human beings do and how we think is where resilience practice by people begins. Throughout this book, we refer to the Jamaica Bay watershed as a social-ecological system (SES), and in this chapter we attempt to describe the varied populations, many neighborhoods, and diverse communities of this part of New York City and to explore how they think of themselves and their relationship to the environment.
Technoscience and cyberculture, 1996
Technoscience and Cyberculture, Nov 21, 1995
The prefix" techno" and its cohort" cyber" have racked up an enormous amount ... more The prefix" techno" and its cohort" cyber" have racked up an enormous amount of discursive" frequent-flyer mileage," thanks to their ever rampant employment by critics, academics, and advertisers.'With the rapid entrenchment, reproduction, and dissemination of this discourse, one might get the impression that its referent also has no" limit." From genetics and athletic shoes to jet-set academics and TV evangelists, technology has been and continues to be (re) inserted into nearly every cultural field, whether high or low, marginal or elite and ...
Prospects for Resilience, 2016
The interconnections between community resilience and vulnerability are complex and fraught. They... more The interconnections between community resilience and vulnerability are complex and fraught. They are also different in kind and scope from aspects of ecological resilience described in earlier chapters. Building on interviews conducted with community leaders and experts in 2014 and reported in chapter 6, this chapter highlights best practices that can be adapted to develop the resilience capacity of communities in Jamaica Bay and frames community resilience through a socio-ecological lens (see also chapters 1, 3).
Each World Social Forum is a conflux of mind-boggling diversity and vibrant interconnectedness. B... more Each World Social Forum is a conflux of mind-boggling diversity and vibrant interconnectedness. But this festival of difference is Janus-faced: for some, it is a crucial element in the construction of a truly inclusive movement of movements. For others, it is an unwieldy cauldron of contradiction and confusion. (Gautney, this issue.) For all these reasons, any attempt to distill each forum's significance or contemplate its potential must be theoretically located and agenda-driven. Thus, specifying one's context of evaluation and modification is essential. My mission is as follows. Hardt and Negri are right: global democracy is now possible in a way that it never was before. Whether we call it globalization or "Empire," since WWII
Non Profit Quarterly, 2020
Over the last 10 years, the Participatory Budgeting Project has worked to spread the use of “part... more Over the last 10 years, the Participatory Budgeting Project has worked to spread the use of “participatory budgeting,” or PB. Alongside nonprofits, community members, elected officials, and coalitions, including organizations that are members of the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), we’ve sought to transform budget processes into opportunities for developing democratic capacities and promoting equity. While PB has been used across the US, it has not been used to defund the police. But that may be about to change.
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Books by Mc edu CreativDec
decision-making and inclusive empowering public engagement have not.
Too many put their faith in new apps, algorithms and the internet of things,
and talk excitedly about a green transition, but where is the enthusiasm and
curiosity for new mechanisms of accountable democratic governance and
creative multi-stakeholder collaborations?
In this essay, we argue that democratizing public services, especially water
and electricity, is essential for a just, sustainable and resilient production and
allocation of the public goods needed to promote human flourishing and
a healthy planet. We believe that democratizing public utilities can help to
address our political institutions’ legitimacy crisis by showing that democracy can be innovative and empowering, and a trust-enhancing alternative to an increasingly oligopolistic economy and political authoritarianism.
Participatory democracy calls for the creation and proliferation of practices and institutions that enable individuals and groups to better determine the conditions in which they act and relate to others. Michael Menser's timely book We Decide! is arguably the most comprehensive treatment of participatory democracy. He explains the three waves of participatory democracy theory to show that this movement is attentive to the mechanics of contemporary political practices. Menser also outlines "maximal democracy," his own view of participatory democracy that expands people's abilities to shape their own lives, reduce inequality, and promote solidarity.
We Decide! draws on liberal, feminist, anarchist, and environmental justice philosophies as well as in-depth case studies of Spanish factory workers, Japanese housewives, and Brazilian socialists to show that participatory democracy actually works. Menser concludes his study by presenting a reconstructed version of the state that is shaped not by corporations but by inclusive communities driven by municipal workers, elected officials, and ordinary citizens working together. In this era of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, the participatory democracy proposed in We Decide! is more significant than ever.
Papers by Mc edu CreativDec
decision-making and inclusive empowering public engagement have not.
Too many put their faith in new apps, algorithms and the internet of things,
and talk excitedly about a green transition, but where is the enthusiasm and
curiosity for new mechanisms of accountable democratic governance and
creative multi-stakeholder collaborations?
In this essay, we argue that democratizing public services, especially water
and electricity, is essential for a just, sustainable and resilient production and
allocation of the public goods needed to promote human flourishing and
a healthy planet. We believe that democratizing public utilities can help to
address our political institutions’ legitimacy crisis by showing that democracy can be innovative and empowering, and a trust-enhancing alternative to an increasingly oligopolistic economy and political authoritarianism.
Participatory democracy calls for the creation and proliferation of practices and institutions that enable individuals and groups to better determine the conditions in which they act and relate to others. Michael Menser's timely book We Decide! is arguably the most comprehensive treatment of participatory democracy. He explains the three waves of participatory democracy theory to show that this movement is attentive to the mechanics of contemporary political practices. Menser also outlines "maximal democracy," his own view of participatory democracy that expands people's abilities to shape their own lives, reduce inequality, and promote solidarity.
We Decide! draws on liberal, feminist, anarchist, and environmental justice philosophies as well as in-depth case studies of Spanish factory workers, Japanese housewives, and Brazilian socialists to show that participatory democracy actually works. Menser concludes his study by presenting a reconstructed version of the state that is shaped not by corporations but by inclusive communities driven by municipal workers, elected officials, and ordinary citizens working together. In this era of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, the participatory democracy proposed in We Decide! is more significant than ever.