Economics Dictionary of Arguments

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Participation: Participation in society is the involvement of individuals in the social, political, and economic life of their communities. See also Community, Society, Altruism.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

John Rawls on Participation - Dictionary of Arguments

I 221
Participation/Political life/Society/Rawls: in connection with the political process, I call the principle of equal freedoms the principle of equal participation. It means that all citizens have an equal right to participate in the constitutent process and to have a say in its outcome. Problem: what happens when this principle reaches its limits?
I 223
Three points concern the equality of rights, as it is affected by the principle of participation: 1. its meaning, 2. its scope, 3. the measures that increase its value.
Ad. 1: The principle of a citizen - one vote guarantees that each vote has approximately the same value. Conversely, this requires that each Member of Parliament (with one vote) represents the same number of voters. In order to do this, however, electoral districts must be delimited impartially.
>Gerrymandering
.
I 224
Ad. 2: How broadly defined are political freedoms? This is due to the extent to which the Constitution has been achieved by the majority. If the mere majority rule is restricted for any reason - e. g. in order to ensure plurality - political freedom is less extended.
Participation: is restricted by constitutional patterns such as two-chamber system, separation of powers, written laws.
Ad. 3.: the value of political freedom must be strengthened by giving everyone the opportunity to participate.
I 225
Eligibility for election to public office must not depend on the membership of a particular social or economic class. Problem: how can you secure this? Equal access to information and equal opportunities for input(1).
Rawls: Property should be widely distributed,...
I 226
...political parties should be made independent of private economic interests by allocating tax revenue to them. Political parties should also be independent of non-public influences.
>Property, >Political parties.
I 227
Participation/Rawls: this is about institutions, not what makes an ideal citizen.
I 228
The question of civic obligations must be separated from this.

1. See R. A. Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory, Chicago, 1956, pp. 67-75.

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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.

Rawl I
J. Rawls
A Theory of Justice: Original Edition Oxford 2005


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