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Feminist democratic theory has questioned and added complexity to the Habermasian deliberative model. In this article, we conduct a case study on the Unitary Feminist Assembly of Seville through participant observation and 'active' interviews. We reflect on the development of the field by discussing six key findings that capture a number of resolved issues in feminist theory. The aim is to verify the presence and relevance of the debates formulated by feminist theoreticians in the assembly and, above all, to check if these debates about deliberative democracy among feminists have a real reflection on feminist practices. We concluded that the concerns feminist theoreticians express about the conditions for the debate are shared, to a greater or lesser extent, by the activists who, moreover, implement measures to enhance participatory equality albeit with important pending challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Current debates in radical urban studies and comparative urbanism focus in part on the denunciation of universalisation in urban theories as an expression of Eurocentrism. Decolonial and postcolonial scholars risk rejecting general theorising in the name of particularism, difference, and the fragmentary character of the world and reducing every urban policy transmission to the result of colonial relations. On the contrary, it would be more productive for radical scholars to pay attention to common pathways and universalist aspirations of anti‐capitalist urban struggles. This paper traces the connections between three experiences of self‐managed habitat production, developed by grassroots movements in Latin America and Europe. The comparative case study enables discussion of universalising aspirations of struggles against capitalist urban development. The paper concludes that collective and solidarity‐based self‐construction is a universal form of production of space, common to any culture at some point and to some extent, and that the self‐managed production of habitat is a potentially universal paradigm for current anti‐capitalist urban struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos.info is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Facultad de Comunicaciones and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines imaginaries regarding the Internet and their influence on the forms of technological appropriation by social movements. It focuses on the concepts of myth, the digital sublime and cyber-libertarian rhetoric that mystify the emancipatory power of the Internet. Through an empirical study based on 37 interviews, three focus groups and participant observations, the imaginaries and media practices of the Spanish 15M movement are analysed. Our results reveal three hybrid tensions between: faith in the democratizing power of the Internet and political praxis; complementary actions in virtual and physical space; and the simultaneous use of corporate networks and alternative media. We conclude that utopian myths about the Internet are negotiated with reality in complex ways and inspire political action and technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a strong historical link between social movements and democratization processes, between contemporary movements and the use of digital technologies and, finally, between the media system and communication technologies and forms of deliberative democracy. I believe that this triadic link -- social movements, deliberative democracy and ICTs -- is a privileged place to approach the current discussion on democracy. From deliberative, communication and collective action theories, and based on previous qualitative research, I analyze how deliberative forms of democracy are articulated on the Internet and in movements. I conclude by pointing out how -- despite its risks and without falling into cyberutopian approaches--the properties of the Internet are consistent with some of the requirements of a communication system suitable for the deliberative model of democracy, which invites us to reconsider the democratizing role of these technopolitical spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]