In an attempt to invite and encourage exchange between academia, public
and a "social movement" I will talk at the imminent ESA conference*, in
the group of "Public Sociology" sessions, to be held in Scotland.
Comments are invited via this e-forum and "live" at the ESA conference
Here is the abstract.
Michael Macpherson, PSAMRA/ Integral Studies, UK
Citizens’ Democracy: a Neglected Social Movement
This proposal is transdisciplinary, transectoral and international. The
author is a medical
scientist and experienced clinician who has initiated and published
research in cooperation
with sociologists, psychologists and historians. The author is also a
social activist who about
ten years ago initiated a campaign for democracy reform to introduce
citizens' law proposal
(initiative) and citizens' triggered referendum in Britain and Northern
Ireland. For twenty years
or more a movement, European and global, has been growing and
accelerating with very little
attention from sociologists, anthropologists, political analysts and
other academics. It has
been dismissed and opposed by many politicians and censored by the mass
media including
the "serious" press. Is citizens' democracy a scotoma or a bogeyman for
the social and
political sciences? This paper will provide evidence for the existence
of social movements for
"more" (direct) democracy in countries such as The Netherlands, Germany
and Italy (South
Tyrol). Questions will be presented for debate and suggestions made for
several avenues of
social science study and research.
Regards
Michael Macpherson
Founder
I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
http://www.iniref.org/
* Conflict, Citizenship and Civil Society
8th European Sociological Association Conference being held in Glasgow
on the 3rd – 6th of September
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