Between militant democracy and citizen vigilantism: Using citizens’ assemblies to keep parties democratic

The essential role of parties in democracies makes it important to keep them democratic. This article argues for sortition-based citizens’ assemblies (CAs) organized in and by civil society to formulate democratic standards for political parties to follow, to evaluate them individually and to criticize them publicly if they do not. This is a third and potentially complementary way to keeping parties democratic, placed between militant democracy on the one hand and citizen vigilantism on the other. Militant democracy is challenged by the fact that few democratically problematic parties are ostensibly anti-democratic and therefore likely to fall under the legal criteria for issuing party bans and other legal sanctions. Militant democratic measures are also likely to be ineffective and are vulnerable to abuse. Citizen vigilantism, whereby active democratic citizens take on the responsibility for protecting democracy, deals better with the ambiguous nature of democratically problematic parties but suffers from a lack of democratic authorization and clear standards of critique. While not perfect, the proposed model remedies many of the shortcomings of both approaches. Contributing to an emerging literature on CAs as instruments in the protection of democracy, the article evaluates the model’s normative justifiability, feasibility and likely effectiveness

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Introduktio

Er friheden taget ud af friskolen?

The article investigates the last 15 years’ changes in the Danish law regarding private schools and asks to what extent the ideological and pedagogical freedom of the private schools have become more restricted. It traces the changes back to general concerns with integration of cultural and religious minorities and with the academic quality of schools, the latter in light of the international competitiveness of Danish society. e article nds that the freedom of the schools has become more limited and discusses whether the e orts to limit their freedom go beyond what is legitimate from a liberal democratic point of view. e article nds that it is legitimate for a liberal democratic state to presuppose ability for political autonomy among its citizens, but it is controversial for the state to demand that schools instill speci c values and loyalties into their students.

Introduktion

Introduktio

Introduktion

Introduktio

Dansk statsborgerskab: en gave der ikke er givet

For strammerne i diskussionen om tildeling af dansk statsborgerskab er statsborgerskabet ikke en menneskeret eller noget, man kan gøre sig berettiget til ved at indfri et bestemt sæt af krav. Det er en gave eller et privilegium, som tildeles udlændinge på baggrund af folketingsmedlemmernes gode vilje, hvis og når sidstnævnte føler sig overbeviste om, at førstnævnte genuint bekender sig til de danske værdier og ikke udgør en trussel for demokratiet. I forsvaret for demokratiet og de liberale frihedsrettigheder skal lovgiverne kunne agere suverænt og suspendere alle principper. Derved gentager strammernes position det militante demokratis dilemma: Transformerer forsvaret af demokratiet det til dets modsatte

ENTRE A DEMOCRACIA MILITANTE E O VIGILANTISMO DO CIDADÃO:: USANDO ASSEMBLEIAS DOS CIDADÃOS PARA MANTER PARTIDOS DEMOCRÁTICOS

The essential role of parties in democracies makes it important to keep them democratic. This article argues for sortition-based citizens’ assemblies (CAs) organized in and by civil society to formulate democratic standards for political parties to follow, to evaluate them individually and to criticize them publicly if they do not. This is a third and potentially complementary way to keeping parties democratic, placed between militant democracy on the one hand and citizen vigilantism on the other. Militant democracy is challenged by the fact that few democratically problematic parties are ostensibly anti-democratic and therefore likely to fall under the legal criteria for issuing party bans and other legal sanctions. Militant democratic measures are also likely to be ineffective and are vulnerable to abuse. Citizen vigilantism, whereby active democratic citizens take on the responsibility for protecting democracy, deals better with the ambiguous nature of democratically problematic parties but suffers from a lack of democratic authorization and clear standards of critique. While not perfect, the proposed model remedies many of the shortcomings of both approaches. Contributing to an emerging literature on CAs as instruments in the protection of democracy, the article evaluates the model’s normative justifiability, feasibility and likely effectiveness. Keywords: citizen vigilantism; militant democracy; denunciation and shame; party regulation; assembly of citizens based on lotteryO papel essencial dos partidos nas democracias faz deles importantes para mantê-los democráticos. Este artigo defende a classificação baseada nas assembleias dos cidadãos (AC’s) organizadas na e pela sociedade civil para formular standards democráticos para os partidos políticos seguirem, para os aperfeiçoarem e para os criticar publicamente quando se desviam. Este é o terceiro caminho, potencialmente complementar, para manter os partidos democráticos, colocado entre a democracia militante, de um lado, e o vigilantismo do cidadão, do outro. A democracia militante é desafiada pelo fato de que poucos partidos democraticamente problemáticos serem ostensivamente antidemocráticos e, portanto, suscetíveis de se enquadrarem em critérios legais proibitivos de organizações partidárias ou em outras sanções legais. Medidas democráticas militantes são também provavelmente inefetivas e são vulneráveis ao abuso. O vigilantismo do cidadão, através do qual os cidadãos democráticos ativos tomam a responsabilidade de proteger a democracia, lida melhor com a natureza ambígua dos partidos democraticamente problemáticos, mas sofre com a falta de autorização democrática e de padrões claros de crítica. Embora não perfeito, o modelo proposto corrige muitas das deficiências de ambas as abordagens. Contribuindo para uma literatura emergente sobre as AC’s como instrumentos de proteção da democracia, o artigo avalia a justificabilidade normativa, a viabilidade e a provável eficácia do modelo. Palavras-chave: vigilantismo do cidadão; democracia militante; denúncia e vergonha; regulamento partidário; assembleia de cidadãos baseada em sortei

Tolerance and Civic Education: Regulating Danish private schools

Work Package 3: National Case Studies of Challenges to Tolerance in School LifeThe ACCEPT PLURALISM project (2010-2013) is funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme, Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities. (Call FP7-SSH-2009-A, Grant Agreement no: 243837). Coordinator: Prof. Anna Triandafyllidou, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute