This book explores key contemporary issues of democracy in our globalized and highly technologized world. Written from an interdisciplinary perspective, with contributions including the fields of philosophy, political science, media studies, linguistics, and aesthetics, it reflects on the characteristics of the democratic state and democratic social practices.
The book features contributions on topics such as the status of political parties, the separation of powers and the rule of law, bureaucracy and meritocracy, equality, forms of democratic participation and governance, comparisons between historical and contemporary democratic practices, individual rights, propaganda, political engagement, and consent. Further, it discusses how global information flows and new technologies affect democratic processes, including topics such as cyber-activism and open-source software as a means of empowerment to ethnocentric and class-centric technological design, globalization and media neutrality, and the mechanization of public administration. Overall, the book demonstrates how historical, philosophical, technical, and institutional issues relate to contemporary democracy. It will appeal to political theorists, social scientists and everybody interested in contemporary democracy.

Juan José Gómez Gutiérrez is Lecturer in Aesthetics and Art Theory at the University of Seville, Spain, and has served as Visiting Scholar at several European universities. He has an extensive publication record on the politics of modern and contemporary art, and the philosophy of Antonio Gramsci.

José Abdelnour-Nocera is Professor of Sociotechnical Design at the University of West London, UK. His interests lie in the role of cultural diversity in the design of people-centred systems and in software development teams. He has been involved in several projects in the UK and overseas in the domains of international development, health and higher education.

Esteban Anchústegui Igartua is Professor of political philosophy at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain. His research interests include nationalism and republicanism. He directs the Limes Series of political thought for the UPV/EHU Press. He is also honorary Professorof several Latin American universities and a fellow of the Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country.

Chapter 1. Does the Constitutional-pluralist regime have a future?.- Chapter 2. A commitment to the principles of judicial ethics against the danger of judicial politicization to the democracies in the European Union.- Chapter 3. Democracy of People: Beyond the Citizen and the Individual.- Chapter 4. On Contemporary Democratism: The Twilight of Political Virtue and Its Paradoxes.- Chapter 5. Democratic representation and the nature of political parties.- Chapter 6. Democracy, Representation and Critical Aesthetics.- Chapter 7. Communism or freedom: right-wing populist discourse and the false disjunctives.- Chapter 8. Meritocracy: The Keyword of Market Populism.- Chapter 9. Controlling the Desire for Control. Machines, Institutions and Democracy.- Chapter 10. Random Recruitment, Civil Society, and the State.- Chapter 11. Visions and Forms of Democratic Participation in Italian Universities after 1968.- Chapter 12. The Ethics and Politics of Design for the Common Good: A Lesson from Alibaug.- Chapter 13. Democratic practice in the era of platforms: From clicktivism to open-source intelligence.- Chapter 14. A Media Citizenry and Communication Policies: The Challenges of Information Democracy.