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Political scientists have long debated whether citizens meet the expectations of a 'folk theory' of democratic representation, in which voters correctly reward and punish politicians for their actions, make choices primarily on the basis of policy preferences and orient their decisions to the future rather than the past. But how do elected politicians themselves theorize voting behaviour? In this paper, we report results from an original survey of more than 2000 elected local politicians in Canada and the United States which allows us to characterize politicians' own democratic theories. We uncover substantial variation in politicians' theories of democracy, and we find examples of a number of well‐known theoretical traditions (democratic realism, partisan retrospection, folk theory) among politicians themselves. We also show that politicians' theoretical perspectives are related to how they undertake representation when in office. We conclude with an outline of a comparative research agenda on the causes and consequences of politicians' democratic theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractToday’s political climate is turbulent and polarized. It appears that liberals and conservatives and their respective parties are continuing to grow further apart ideologically, making it increasingly difficult to work together for the good of our country. Marketing researchers use segmentation and positioning analysis to gain a better understanding of consumers’ perceptions to increase their success in the marketplace. In this paper, we demonstrate that these same multivariate methods can be used to investigate the current political climate. Across three samples, we find support for political polarization based on voters’ views of important political issues. We also find that although the political parties align well with their ideologically typical issues, the presidential candidates (Trump and Biden) do not align well with the issues or their parties. This leads to the conclusion that they may not the best candidates for their parties or the voters. Consumer centric marketers want to help consumers make better decisions so that they are more satisfied with their consumption choices. Ideally, politicians should also want to help voters make better decisions so that voters are more satisfied with their choices of who is best suited to lead our country. The primary contribution of this paper is to demonstrate the application and benefits of using two common marketing analytics methodologies in the investigation of important political issues and voter perceptions. Additionally, this paper also provides practical implications that are applicable to political scientists, political practitioners, and voters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada is the world’s fourth largest producer of oil and fifth largest producer of natural gas. Yet, the country faces a ‘twin’ challenge in tackling the climate crisis. On the one hand, Canada’s federal climate goals state that it must achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. On the other hand, regionalism stronghold in fossil-producing provinces lead to difficult trade-offs between an ambitious climate transition and reluctant actors supporting the fossil fuel industry. This situation is characterized as ‘fossilized’ petro-provinces by political scientist Angela Carter. This article explores how Alberta, Canada’s largest oil and natural gas producer, became fossilized. The article develops a path dependence argument organized around the role of regionalism in Alberta’s political development. Regionalism is a crucial persistent feature of Alberta to explain its fossilization because it influenced the formation of an interdependence between the government and the industry, a distinct political culture, and a conservative-led party system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Macedonia and Identity Politics after the Prespa Agreement" edited by Vasiliki P. Neofotistos delves into the aftermath of the 2018 Prespa Agreement in both Greece and North Macedonia. The volume includes contributions from anthropologists, linguists, and a political scientist, offering diverse perspectives on the implications of the agreement. Through a range of analyses, the authors explore the historical, political, and cultural dimensions of the agreement, shedding light on the complex and entangled legacies of the Western Balkans. [Extracted from the article]

This study reflects on aspects of the Pythagorean political philosophy and compares them to those of Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Fārābī's thought. Both share a key assumption: excellent rulers must be political scientists who seek divine guidance to ensure the prevalence of reason over passions in public life while reconciling society with the harmony and wisdom of the cosmos. By imitating God's perfection and incorporating divine wisdom into governance, virtuous rulers promote felicity, prosperity and peace within a city. We highlight al-Fārābī's emphasis on the role of religion in enabling citizens to internalize the wisdom of the cosmos, thereby minimising the need for coercion in the pursuit of order and social concord. In addition, the populace leverages the superior knowledge of each governor while observing their behaviour. Thus, the people have a share in the exercise of political power. This insistence on the involvement of the populace in politics aligns with the concept of 'political Prometheism'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the upcoming election and the role of Taylor Swift and her fans, known as Swifties, in the political landscape. It explores the potential impact of Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris and the organized antitrust campaign led by Swifties against Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The article also reflects on the uncertainty of the election and the potential for it to either continue the patterns of the past or bring about transformative change. Additionally, the article highlights the research articles featured in the issue, covering topics such as political theory, imagination, religious debates, individual responsibility for structural injustice, and the relationship between Engels, Marx, and Malthus. The article concludes by expressing gratitude to the reviewers and acknowledging the contributions of the graduate assistant and the associate editor. [Extracted from the article]

Ernst Haas was intrigued by the possibility that international governance could promote peace and stability. International human rights regimes are one such system of governance. Haas was the first political scientist to analyse closely, in his 1970 book, an international body for the adjudication of human rights claims. He concluded that the ILO mechanism for hearing claims was ineffective because states largely failed to implement its rulings. Today, three regional human rights courts receive a growing number of petitions and routinely find that states have violated rights contained in the applicable regional and international treaties. Integration in the domain of human rights courts can be tracked along three axes: vertical incorporation of international human rights into national law; horizontal integration as the regional courts pay attention to and cite each other; and effectiveness, evaluated here in terms of state compliance with judgments. The empirical discussion focuses on these dimensions and their development in three functioning regional human rights courts. Linkages across the regional courts have expanded, producing a global human rights commons. But as Haas might have predicted, the degree to which democracy has taken root in a region conditions the effectiveness of its human rights court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political scientists have long been interested in the persistent effects of history on contemporary behavior and attitudes. To estimate legacy effects, studies often compare people living in places that were historically exposed to some event and those that were not. Using principal stratification, we provide a formal framework to analyze how migration limits our ability to learn about the persistent effects of history from observed differences between historically exposed and unexposed places. We state the necessary assumptions about movement behavior to causally identify legacy effects. We highlight that these assumptions are strong; therefore, we recommend that legacy studies circumvent bias by collecting data on people's place of residence at the exposure time. Reexamining a study on the persistent effects of U.S. civil rights protests, we show that observed attitudinal differences between residents and nonresidents of historic protest sites are more likely due to migration rather than attitudinal change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1995, a coalition of former rebel groups redrew Ethiopia's map, establishing an ethnic‐federal system. By 2017, internal border conflicts signalled federalism's potential unravelling. This article analyses expectations about federalism's future among Somalis in Ethiopia, drawing on anthropologies of time to understand how everyday processes of border‐making orient around the ‘future in the present’. Anthropologists and historians concerned with political time have focused largely on how the ‘past in the present’ shapes state‐building and political identity formation. Meanwhile, political scientists and commentators, as well as many Ethiopians living amid uncertainty, prognosticate about the future of identity politics in Ethiopia and attempt to discern whether decentralization is paving the way to state fragmentation. Foregrounding how people work to manage time at borders and through borderwork, this article analyses the roles borders play in people's collective constructions of political futures – and the role anticipations about the future play in people's engagement with borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the conclusion to her book The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work, political scientist Cara Daggett considers "A Post-Work Energy Politics" in which she examines the historical coupling of energy and work—meaning human, waged work—in an invitation to disassociate their values and futures. The exponential power of fossil fuels animated the pipedream that powerful, inorganic slaves could substitute unfree human labor, ideas that have driven European imperialism. Fossil fuel systems did not lead, however, to a world beyond work. Rather, today's "patriarchal slave states" continue to manage the project of putting the world to work through the maximization of productivity, and the subordination of racialized, immigrant, and gendered bodies—who would work for lower, or for no, wages. "The project of work," Daggett argues, "is in tension with the project of life." 1 And the rise of "work–life balance" is a mere tactic of governance in which the enemy is fatigue, exhaustion, and burn-out. She suggests, in turn, an alliance between post-carbon and feminist post-work politics and asks: what might it mean for energy politics to refer to the politics of ensuring public vitality? In order to advance a feminist revaluation of work, Daggett draws on Kathi Weeks's The Problem with Work to outline a project that makes two utopian demands. One demand articulates a paradoxical relationship between the pragmatism of (present) demands and the speculative seeds of possibility; a second demand outlines a utopian form for such politics: partial, fragmented kin to the genre of the manifesto. Daggett concludes with an invitation that "a radical planet politics, if it seeks to contest ecomodernist claims, needs its own politics of pleasure." 2 In an echo to Daggett's invitation, the authors of this Educators' Roundtable were invited to contribute a short text that picks up on the possibilities of a post-carbon, post-work politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nietzsche is a an important philosopher whose works and ideas are have been debated and revisited not only in the Western tradition but also and in the Eastern traditions. For example, almost all of Nietzsche's works have been translated into Turkish, and he is one the most translated European philosophers. There are also numerous scholarly works on Nietzsche, not only by philosophers, but also by literary scholars, theologians, cultural scholars, sociologists and even political scientists. The main reason for Nietzsche' popularity is that his philosophy can be read and interpreted from a variety of perspectives. Nietzsche's ideas can be used to support and argue for any ideological tendency, or to criticize any ideological approach. As a result, Nietzsche has been variously described as a fascist, anarchist, atheist, religious, or even conservative. His most widely held and understood opinions are his interpretation of the phrase "God is Dead" and his portrayal of Nietzsche as an anti-religious character. Nietzsche, on the otherhand, is unafraid to challenge the dominant views of science, reason, and morality. This is because, according to Nietzsche, all previous values, beliefs, and acceptances have created a prejudice against the human capacity for understanding, which can be eradicated by re-evaluating values and reconstructing oneself. Nietzsche takes a genealogical approach, aiming to trace the errors of human history from its beginnings to the present. It is a historically grounded critique of metaphysics and superstition. It is critical to release people from the shackles of the past and help them get back on their feet. According to Nietzsche, the most crucial event that will disturb him/her is God's death. Only then can a person begin to examine his own thinking and question his fundamental identity. What does the short, revolutionary phrase "God dying" actually mean? Did Nietzsche declare war against all religions? How should Nietzsche be understood fundamentally? The present study is intended to answer these questions and to prevent unfounded and damaging discussions about Nietzsche. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opinion formation and information processing are affected by unconscious affective responses to stimuli—particularly in politics. Yet we still know relatively little about such affective responses and how to measure them. In this study, we focus on emotional valence and examine facial electromyography (fEMG) measures. We demonstrate the validity of these measures, discuss ways to make measurement and analysis more robust, and consider validity trade-offs in experimental design. In doing so, we hope to support scholars in designing studies that will advance scholarship on political attitudes and behavior by incorporating unconscious affective responses to political stimuli—responses that have too often been neglected by political scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article from Early American Literature explores the novel "Sheppard Lee, Written by Himself" by Robert Montgomery Bird, focusing on the protagonist's ability to inhabit multiple bodies and the confusion that arises from this metempsychosis. Bird uses Lee's transformations into various characters to examine the complexities of political representation and the challenges faced by elected officials embodying diverse constituencies. The text delves into the historical context of character writing, connecting it to the political discourse of the early American republic, and highlights the limitations and potentials of confusion in democratic representation. Through a nuanced analysis of confusion, Bird navigates the personal and public implications of identity, representation, and emancipation, offering a critical perspective on the multifaceted nature of democratic politics in the 19th century. [Extracted from the article]

We surveyed political scientists to learn more about how they approach the peer review process. We are motivated by two aims. First, to advance our understanding of how fellow political scientists approach the task of reviewing articles for publication, and the values they bring to bear on that task; second, and consequently, to provide clearer guidance to prospective authors on what to avoid or emphasize as they prepare manuscripts for submission. In this article, we present the results of our survey and make some suggestions for those submitting articles in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance and impact of political scientists' professional activities outside of universities has become the focus of public attention, partly due to growing expectations that research should help address society's grand challenges. One type of such activity is policy advising. However, little attention has been devoted to understanding the extent and type of policy advising activities political scientists engage in. This paper addresses this gap by adopting a classification that distinguishes four ideal types of policy advisors representing differing degrees of engagement. We test this classification by calculating a multi-level latent class model to estimate key factors explaining the prevalence of each type based on an original dataset obtained from a survey of political scientists across 39 European countries. Our results challenge the wisdom that political scientists are sitting in an "ivory tower": the vast majority (80%) of political scientists in Europe are active policy advisers, with most of them providing not only expert guidance but also normative assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Indianista movement in Bolivia, which emerged in the 1960s to challenge colonialism and promote the decolonization of Indigenous peoples. It explores the movement's ideologies and symbols, as well as its impact on the country's political landscape. The article also analyzes the alignment between the government of Evo Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president, and the Indianista movement's goals. It discusses the concept of plurinationality in Bolivia and argues that it has not been fully realized in practice, with Indigenous voices and historical projects being silenced. The article calls for the reconstitution of Indigenous agendas to combat anti-Indigenous policies in Bolivia. [Extracted from the article]

Some mainstream political scientists apply the trilogy of exit, voice and loyalty in studying intra-party cohesion. This approach applies more neatly in liberal than in repressive contexts. I therefore make three modifications to enhance the trilogy's descriptive and explanatory power in an authoritarian context using the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) after Robert Mugabe. First, there is need to integrate non-voluntary exit as party members are mostly expelled against their will in a context where there are limited livelihood opportunities outside party-state patronage and defection is ruthlessly punished. Second, voice should be understood as predominantly expressed over preferences for personalities in internal power distribution rather than over policies. Third, loyalty is not always to the party institution to promote unity but to individuals or factions. From this positioning, ZANU PF is predominantly a non-cohesive party characterised by ephemerally organised leader-follower groups largely seeking power and patronage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the evolution of the British constitution and challenges the traditional view of the United Kingdom as a homogeneous, unitary nation-state. It explores counter-narratives based on the histories and political consciousness of the component nations, which argue that the UK is an artificial construction. The article also examines the concept of union and its application to the UK, as well as the difficulties in defining what a union is. It highlights the importance of integrating work from constitutional law, political science, and history in understanding the UK's constitutional framework. The article concludes by discussing the issues of sovereignty, devolution, and human rights in the UK, and the challenges of constitutional reform. [Extracted from the article]

"Conflict and Transformation: Essays on European Law and Policy" by Christian Joerges is a collection of essays that critically examines the development of European Union (EU) socio-economic governance and the integration project as a whole. The book argues that the failure of "integration through law" has led to the rise of technocratic rule and a lack of democratic deliberation. Joerges proposes an alternative constitutional paradigm called "conflicts law" that aims to preserve the diversity of member states while addressing the tensions tearing Europe apart. The book raises important questions about the role of law, the responsibility of lawyers, and the need to confront Europe's dark legacies. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Swiss Political Science Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

The article discusses the book "The Classical Liberal Case for Israel" by Walter E. Block and Alan G. Futerman, which argues that Israel's success can be attributed to its commitment to private property and embrace of capitalism. However, the authors overlook the importance of democracy and liberalism in Zionist thinking, particularly the contributions of Socialist Zionism and David Ben-Gurion. The article also highlights the role of the Bible in shaping Israeli democracy and the connection between Judaism and democracy. It suggests that a fuller understanding of Israel and Zionism requires a broader perspective that includes the influence of millennia of Biblical Democracy and Lockean Talmudism. The Hebrew revival had a significant impact on various aspects of European society, including literature, science, theology, philosophy, and politics. The influence of Hebraist texts on European political thought pushed it towards modernity. The article also discusses the history of Socialist Zionism in Israel and its transformation into a liberal and democratic movement. It highlights the commitment to individual freedom and dignity among Zionists, as well as the influence of the United States and the Soviet Union in saving Socialist Zionism. The article emphasizes the democratic nature of Israel and its commitment to individual rights, despite the ongoing conflicts with its neighbors. It also explores the political development of Israel's founding Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, and his commitment to both socialism and individualism. The article concludes by discussing Israel's economic growth and its transition from socialism to capitalism, while maintaining democratic principles. [Extracted from the article]

This special issue reflects one of the first systematic inquiries into the effects of revolutions on institutional change, a topic previously explored only tangentially across diverse social science domains. It fosters interdisciplinary discourse on revolutionary outcomes among economists, political scientists, sociologists, and economic historians informed by the public choice research program. The issue is divided into two parts, the first of which focuses on regime overthrow and institutional transformation and the second of which focuses on rational-choice theoretic analyses of revolution and its results. By employing analytical narratives and comparative analyses of contemporary and historical revolutions, the issue advances both theoretical and empirical understandings of revolution, revolutionary dynamics, and their implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews four books that discuss the rise of authoritarianism, fascism, and the global ecological crisis. The books explore the threat of fascism's resurgence in the United States, the dominance of strongmen, and the reduction of democracy. While the authors do not explicitly argue for an anti-capitalist position, they highlight the need to overcome environmental and political crises. The books emphasize the importance of collective action, social transformation, and the urgent need for structural changes to address the economic, environmental, and social crises we face today. [Extracted from the article]

This text builds on existing debates on types of populism in contemporary political science literature. Our premise is that with new types of populism emerging in the debate, and with the significantly increasing number of texts dealing with populism, the types are being hollowed out. Using a dataset consisting of a total of 539 texts published between 2011 and 2020 containing the keyword populism and using a machine-learning based classification model of concordance data, we show that (1.) ambiguities and confusions among the different types of populism become more prominent over the study period, categories become emptier and their usefulness for classification decreases, and (2.) the only stable and consensually defined type in the long run is right-wing populism. We conclude by recommending to depart from creating classifications of types of populism based on specific ideological or non-ideological features and to keep these levels (populism and other features) – within analysis – separate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political scientists agree that most Americans are "operationally liberal." However, economic preferences have traditionally been measured as opinions on public spending, independent from the "costs" of public policies. In reality, redistributive economic policies often impose costs on some actors while delivering benefits to others. When a policy's costs and benefits are both apparent, what types of redistribution do Americans prefer? This paper's novel survey evidence shows that preferences for policy benefits are indeed sensitive to which subgroups would bear the policy's costs (and vice versa). American majorities do support a wide range of redistributive economic policy packages—as long as the wealthy are footing the bill or the costs are hidden. When the size of the group facing the policy cost (e.g., tax) increases, overall support declines. Preference differences between Republicans of varying economic statuses are large, while divisions within the Democratic coalition are subtler but still clear on certain policies. Overall, this paper shows that measuring preferences for a policy's costs (e.g., taxation) are crucial to truly understanding voters' holistic economic policy demands. Further, the lack of enactment by political elites of the forms of redistribution consistently supported by the public casts research on democratic representation in new light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits the work of the Argentine political scientist Guillermo O'Donnell (1936–2011), one of Latin America's leading intellectual figures of the twentieth century. While previous analyses have concentrated on his legacy in the social sciences, this study offers an intellectual history of O'Donnell's ideas on democracy and inequality. It traces O'Donnell's shifting perspectives, from a structuralist view of global centre-periphery relationships to an emphasis on individual agency concerning inequalities. The article presents, first, an analysis of his early work, in particular his conceptualization of the "Bureaucratic-Authoritarian" State, which was connected to a specific view of inequality characteristic of the 1960s and 1970s. Second, the article focuses on his second major work, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule, in relation to the most important political event in Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s, namely the various transitions from dictatorship to democracy. Thirdly, the article examines in detail O'Donnell's ideas on the quality of democracy, the state, and inequality in Latin America in the 1990s and 2000s. By exploring O'Donnell's intellectual journey chronologically, the article illuminates the shifts and continuities in his work, thereby highlighting the evolving perspectives on inequality of one of Latin America's foremost intellectuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regularly invoked but rarely defined, 'the rule of law' has over the last few decades been converted from a legal term of art into one of the most ambiguous slogans of contemporary public policy. Political scientists claim it as a crucial test of a regime's legitimacy. Economists maintain that it provides an essential foundation of a flourishing market economy. Philosophers suggest it captures the essence of the state as a moral association. Historians acknowledge that, even if they might distrust such an abstract notion, the imposition of effective inhibitions on power is an 'unqualified human good'. And lawyers, of course, have treated it as the foundation of their discipline ever since the mid-thirteenth century when Bracton asserted that 'there is no rex where will rules rather than lex'. Those who extend its usage beyond the confines of professional legal discourse commonly give it a positive valence. But the rule of law also has its detractors. These critics assert that it promotes purely formal, individualistic values at the expense of substantive justice, or that it is a smokescreen preventing us from seeing the impact of recent global developments that signal the rule of lawyers. Some anthropologists even denounce it as an imperial ideology that legitimates European conquest and the plunder of the rest of the world. But given the fact that almost every state in the world now claims to act in compliance with the rule of law, these critics seem to have done little to dent its appeal. Yet, the sheer range of views and perspectives that now exist about the meaning, purpose, and value of the rule of law considerably complicates any inquiry into its current standing. In this paper, I will try to bring some clarity to the issue by providing a sketch of the main varieties of ways in which the term is being invoked. The paper comprises five sections, which each address a specific aspect of the term's usage: (1) its coinage in English law, (2) the adoption of a superficially similar terminology in the German concept of the Rechtsstaat, (3) the jurisprudential innovations that complicate its meaning, and finally its most recent invocation (4) first in development work and (5) secondly in constitutional rejuvenation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the political and legal authority in Central-Eastern Europe, specifically in Poland, and discusses the emergence of new elements in constitutionalism. It explores the relationship between populism and constitutionalism, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary approaches to understand these phenomena. The article argues that the growing divide between liberal political elites and citizens is undermining the stability of liberal-democratic systems, resulting in constitutional struggles. It also analyzes different interpretations of constitutionalism and assesses the impact of populism on constitutionalism in Central-Eastern Europe. Additionally, the text explores the rejection of neo-liberal concepts by populist movements and their focus on implementing broad social programs. It suggests that while populism may have the potential to correct democratic institutions, it has not yet developed a comprehensive theory of constitutionalism, and its impact on constitutionalism is still evolving. [Extracted from the article]

"The Dawn of Everything" by David Graeber and David Wengrow challenges the conventional belief that the rise of bureaucratic states was directly linked to the agricultural revolution. The authors argue for a more nuanced understanding of political structures, suggesting that human societies had more agency in shaping their governance systems. While the book promotes alternative forms of political organization like anarchism, it does not fully address modern developments such as the industrial revolution and technological advancements. The text emphasizes the importance of enhancing democratic self-government within existing political structures and advocates for interdisciplinary dialogue to explore the implications of their findings. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseno y Comunicacion 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.)

German lawyer and political scientist Karl Loewenstein is generally regarded as the originator of the militant democracy paradigm. In a series of articles in the mid and late 1930s, he argued that constitutional democracies should pre-emptively defend themselves against movements and parties that were seeking to undermine them. More recently, another father of the paradigm has been identified in the controversial figure of Carl Schmitt. Before his despicable and opportunistic support for the Nazi regime at the end of 1933, he advocated a model of authoritarian democracy based on fundamental constitutional contents that should be made impervious to legislative change. This article examines the different models of disciplined and authoritarian democracy proposed by these authors. While both advocated measures that could inhibit the activity of parliamentary majorities composed mainly of parties opposed to the state constitutional structure, Schmitt, more than Loewenstein, made the point that the defence of democracy requires subscribing to substantive values and principles and entrenching them. The juxtaposition of these models makes it clear that militant democracy not only recommends the protection of certain procedures but also entails a normative standard comprising substantive contents. This helps to highlight the unstated normative burdens of democratic militancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the questions of academic freedom, scholar activism, public science, and social engagement. The five authors represent scholars from different disciplines and scientific paradigms as well as diverse gender, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnic, and class backgrounds, yet they share a joint passion for academic ‘activism’. The paper, therefore, reflects a multitude of transdisciplinary perspectives and positionalities. This dialogue was born out of the group’s desire to investigate the role of scientists in public and political matters, including engagement in social justice. The interdisciplinary nature of the dialogue allows for comparisons between how activism is defined, perceived, practiced, and considered (un)welcome in the disciplines of Sociology, Psychology, Law, Media Studies, and Medical Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]