In the 1960s and 1970s, the United States and Japan went through massive welfare expansions that sparked debates about citizenship. At the heart of these disputes stood African Americans and Koreans. Reinventing Citizenship offers a comparative study of African American welfare activism in Los Angeles and Koreans’ campaigns for welfare rights in Kawasaki. In working-class and poor neighborhoods in both locations, African Americans and Koreans sought not only to be recognized as citizens but also to become legitimate constituting members of communities. Local activists in Los Angeles and Kawasaki ardently challenged the welfare institutions. By creating opposition movements and voicing alternative visions of citizenship, African American leaders, Tsuchiya argues, turned Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty into a battle for equality. Koreans countered the city’s and the nation’s exclusionary policies and asserted their welfare rights. Tsuchiya’s work exemplifies transnational antiracist networking, showing how black religious leaders traveled to Japan to meet Christian Korean activists and to provide counsel for their own struggles. Reinventing Citizenship reveals how race and citizenship transform as they cross countries and continents. By documenting the interconnected histories of African Americans and Koreans in Japan, Tsuchiya enables us to rethink present ideas of community and belonging.
This book chronicles the struggles of undocumented migrant women in France as they fight to become rights-bearing citizens, revealing how concepts of citizenship and nationality intersect with gender, sexuality, and immigration.
By analyzing a turn-of-the-century model of urban reform that depicts this relationship between citizens and government, Schachter shows how reinvigorating an active public is essential to increasing agency efficiency and responsiveness. She offers two strategies for moving toward active citizenship: better citizenship education, including service learning, and public agencies' provision of better-focused information for their owners.
To the ancient Greeks, democracy meant gathering in public and debating laws set by a randomly selected assembly of several hundred citizens. To the Icelandic Vikings, democracy meant meeting every summer in a field to discuss issues until consensus was reached. Our contemporary representative democracies are very different. Modern parliaments are gated and guarded, and it seems as if only certain people are welcome. Diagnosing what is wrong with representative government and aiming to recover some of the openness of ancient democracies, Open Democracy presents a new paradigm of democracy. Supporting a fresh nonelectoral understanding of democratic representation, Hélène Landemore demonstrates that placing ordinary citizens, rather than elites, at the heart of democratic power is not only the true meaning of a government of, by, and for the people, but also feasible and, more than ever, urgently needed. -- Cover page 4.
“A fascinating case for a more engaged government, transformed to meet the challenges and possibilities of the twenty-first century.” —President William J. Clinton A rallying cry for revolutionizing democracy in the digital age, Citizenville reveals how ordinary Americans can reshape their government for the better. Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California, argues that today’s government is stuck in the last century while—in both the private sector and our personal lives—absolutely everything else has changed. Drawing on wide-ranging interviews with thinkers and politicians, Newsom shows how Americans can transform their government, taking matters into their own hands to dissolve political gridlock even as they produce tangible changes in the real world. Citizenville is a timely road map for restoring American prosperity and for reinventing citizenship in today’s networked age.
"If you want things organized, you might have to read some quite tricky books about democracy [such as this one]." - RUSSELL BRAND, actor and comedian, reading excerpts of Rebooting Democracy on his show The Trews Unless you are a banker, by now you must have realized that politicians don't serve your interests. Our democracies are failing us and, from Occupy Wall Street to the riots in Sao Paulo, millions have taken to the streets to voice their frustration. But is there anything we can do about it? Rebooting Democracy: A Citizen's Guide to Reinventing Politics takes readers on a global journey in search of solutions. From Vancouver to Saint Petersburg, from France to Australia, we discover that there are sensible ways to reform our democracies. As we travel the globe and zoom in on these real-world democratic breakthroughs, we also pick up insights from the social sciences-from key ideas in political science, sociology and economics to the latest research in social and cognitive psychology-that clarify why elected politicians will always fail to represent us. In a concise and engaging way, this book shows why the problems we are facing arise from inescapable, structural aspects of our political systems-and invites readers to explore five concrete, innovative ideas to help repair them. Praise for Rebooting Democracy: "A quick and easy read that makes the case for why existing political systems are inadequate and then shows examples of how to move us past those problems and toward more democratic systems. Along with many clever insights, Rebooting Democracy: A Citizen's Guide to Reinventing Politics points the way to where democracy is heading." - PROFESSOR JOHN GASTIL, Director of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State University "A bold challenge to the status quo that shows, with some very good examples, how democracy can work. A concise and readable book that makes a cogent case for reinventing politics. Well worth a read." - KATHARINE QUARMBY, award-winning journalist; former Britain correspondent for The Economist and political producer for BBC Newsnight "Passionately argued, yet plainly written, Rebooting Democracy is part scholarship, part manifesto-a wholehearted call for civic engagement at a time of growing dissatisfaction with politics. Manuel Arriaga's book challenges the idea that our democracies cannot be improved and successfully builds a case for political renewal." - ALBERTO ALEMANNO, Professor at HEC Paris and NYU School of Law; Founder of eLabEurope "A short and engaging book. Written in the irreverent, outsider spirit of the Occupy protests, Rebooting Democracy: A Citizen's Guide to Reinventing Politics goes well beyond critiquing the status quo. It discusses several ways to democratize our society. [...] Interesting and well-worth reading." - YORAM GAT, founder and editor of Equality by Lot "Don't you feel sometimes that there is something wrong with contemporary democracy? That politicians are like a separate caste which makes decisions over the heads of people? Why is this happening? In Rebooting Democracy: A Citizen's Guide to Reinventing Politics, Manuel Arriaga answers these questions in a straightforward manner, carefully explaining point-by-point how it is possible that those we elect so often fail to represent us. But this is only the beginning of the book. [...] [The rest is devoted to] an overview of concrete solutions from different parts of the world. From the citizen panels in British Columbia to ranked voting in Ireland and all the way to campaign finance reform in France. [...] This short book prompted me to think of issues which I had never thought of before, even though I have been interested in the topic of democracy for a long time." - MARCIN GERWIN, Dziennik Opinii
Participatory Budgeting—the experiment in democracy that could redefine how public budgets are decided in the United States. Democracy Reinvented is the first comprehensive academic treatment of participatory budgeting in the United States, situating it within a broader trend of civic technology and innovation. This global phenomenon, which has been called "revolutionary civics in action" by the New York Times, started in Brazil in 1989 but came to America only in 2009. Participatory budgeting empowers citizens to identify community needs, work with elected officials to craft budget proposals, and vote on how to spend public funds. Democracy Reinvented places participatory budgeting within the larger discussion of the health of U.S. democracy and focuses on the enabling political and institutional conditions. Author and former White House policy adviser Hollie Russon Gilman presents theoretical insights, indepth case studies, and interviews to offer a compelling alternative to the current citizen disaffection and mistrust of government. She offers policy recommendations on how to tap online tools and other technological and civic innovations to promote more inclusive governance. While most literature tends to focus on institutional changes without solutions, this book suggests practical ways to empower citizens to become change agents. Reinvesting in Democracy also includes a discussion on the challenges and opportunities that come with using digital tools to re-engage citizens in governance.
''Human beings are not meant to live alone, or in isolated nuclear family arrangements. We do best in community. But in a few short generations, we've lost many of the social skills necessary for successful community living. The folks ... in Reinventing Community are the vanguard for the future - they're learning today ... what it takes to go beyond the solitary and aliented survival tactics of modern urban life to the full flowering of the human spirit of tomorrow.'' --- Eric Utne, founder of Utne magazine and editor of Cosmo Doogood's Urban Almanac.....Cohousing began in Scandinavia in the 1960s as a response to a feeling of isolation within typical suburban communities, where you don't know your neighbor, nor can you rely on their assistance - not even for a cup of sugar. Cohousing spread to the United States in the 1980s, and there are now several hundred such communities throughout the country in more than thirty states. Reinventing Community is the first cohousing anthology that tells real-world stories from the perspectives of the unique people who live in these communities, whether they be in urban, suburban, or rural settings. Unlike the few ''how-to'' guides in the marketplace today, this book details the lives of these close-knit groups of caring and active neighbors who enjoy their own privacy, yet also share a wonderful sense of camaraderie and connection. Exploring everything from planning a cohousing community to moving in to the joys and challenges of daily life, Reinventing Community shares with its readers a sense of what it takes to build a true community in our often detached and disengaged modern world.
In this much-anticipated book from acclaimed blogger Vicki Davis (Cool Cat Teacher), you’ll learn the key shifts in writing instruction necessary to move students forward in today’s world. Vicki describes how the elements of traditional writing are being reinvented with cloud-based tools. Instead of paper, note taking, filing cabinets, word processors, and group reports, we now have tools like ePaper, eBooks, social bookmarking, cloud syncing, infographics, and more. Vicki shows you how to select the right tool, set it up quickly, and prevent common mistakes. She also helps you teach digital citizenship and offers exciting ways to build writing communities where students love to learn. Special Features: • Essential questions at the start of each chapter to get you thinking about the big ideas • A chapter on each of the nine essential cloud-based tools--ePaper and eBooks; digital notebooks; social bookmarking; cloud syncing; cloud writing apps; blogging and microblogging; wikis and website builders; online graphic organizers and mind maps; and cartoons and infographics • A wide variety of practical ways to use each tool in the classroom • Alignments to the Common Core State Standards in writing • Level Up Learning--a special section at the end of each chapter to help you review, reflect on, and apply what you’ve learned • Writing tips to help you make the best use of the tools and avoid common pitfalls • A glossary of key terms discussed in the book • Useful appendices, including reproducible material for your classroom No matter what grade level you teach or how much tech experience you have, you will benefit from Vicki’s compelling and practical ideas. As she emphasizes throughout this essential book, teaching with cloud-based tools has never been easier, more convenient, or more important than right now.
