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The ‘Blair paradox’ reflects not a simple shift in orientations (i.e. from majoritarian power‐hoarding to consensual power‐sharing) but a multifaceted attempt to inject a new meta‐constitutional orientation, in terms of a set of core values, principles, and assumptions about the distribution of power and the relationship between political actors, within the existing version (i.e. bi‐constitutionalism).

This chapter offers an introduction to debates about democratic renewal and direct citizen participation as they are being played out in Great Britain in the early years of the twenty-first century. It discusses the notions of a more active citizenry, focusing on the way in which these have been developed by New Labour in its project of modernising governance and as seen by commentators and critics. The chapter also examines the legacy of separation between the National Health Service (NHS) and local government, and the history of attempts to infuse localism, service-user voices, and consumer responsiveness.

This chapter examines two types of realist challenge to ideas for democratic renewal. The realist political scientists stress the role of irrational, group-based behaviour amongst the electorate, and the capture of democratic processes by powerful and wealthy elites. They see little scope of civic participation reversing the hollowing out of representative democracy and mainstream political parties. On the other hand, realist political theorists focus on practical advice and political action, rather than ideal theory; and are concerned with rhetoric and persuasion, as much as public reason. It is argued that the second type of realist challenge can help us better understand how to advance state-citizen cooperation through practical initiatives such as citizens assemblies, participation in local government, digital democracy, the opening up of political parties; and how these can be supported by applying realist theorists’ insights to the reforming of political institutions, harnessing passion in social activism, and the development of citizenship education.

Chapter 1 argues that democracy in many societies is wearing thin due to widespread disconnects being experienced between citizens and their elected representatives, between publics in fractious and polarized public spheres, and between citizens and tangled policy processes. Collectively, these disconnects are problematic for realizing democracy at the large scale not only because they produce subtle forms of exclusion, but also because they restrict the movement of ideas and arguments between affected publics and those authorized to make and implement collective decisions. The chapter invites contemporary advocates of democratic reform to think harder both about the nature of these disconnects and about how to repair them. It begins with an overview of the prevailing ideas about contemporary democratic renewal and reform, and then introduces the concept of democratic mending as a promising pathway for advancing democratic reform especially in societies characterized by systemic disconnects.

This chapter initially cites five incidents reported by the Jamaica Gleaner that manifest the state of lawlessness and anarchy that characterized Jamaica at the turn of the century. It argues that Jamaica was in a state of hegemonic dissolution, with three possible options subject to debate. The first option was to adopt an authoritarian government; second, a democratic renewal across the scope of the Jamaican social and political territory; and finally, a Marxist option described as a widespread decline of civil society and the state. The chapter mentions Kari Levitt and how he similarly addressed the aspects of a program for the Caribbean and all developing countries beyond the failed neo-liberal paradigm.

Chapter 3 focuses on the problematic representative disconnect experienced in contemporary democracy, where linkages between elected representatives and their constituents are weak. The chapter presents an empirical case of how a group of residents, Voices4Indi, have sucessfully strengthened their representative–constituent relationship in the Australian federal electorate of Indi. Drawing on interviews with key members of Voices4Indi, the chapter unpacks how everyday citizens sought to repair the representative process by facilitating listening between citizens, and empowering voters to elect a representative committed to connecting and being responsive. The chapter shows in rich detail the diverse ways that both citizens and their elected representatives can creatively mend disconnections in the representative–constituent relationship. The chapter concludes by considering how the Indi experience advances our understanding of connectivity in deliberative systems.

Chapter 8 presents the key take-home messages for advancing the work of democratic reform in disconnected times. The chapter makes the case for expanding democratic repair beyond institutional proposals and towards a more emergent and systemic approach aimed at building connections across democratic systems. The analysis encourages democratic reformers to learn from the creative connective practices of everyday actors who seek to mend disconnects and make democracy work in context. The final section of the chapter presents key principles of democratic mending, urging advocates and practitioners of democratic reform to think more creatively about how to ‘make do’ with the materials at their disposal.

One of the consequences of the demise of the Grenada Revolution and the US invasion of Grenada in 1983 was the formation of a new political party architecture to break with the past to rid Grenada of the vestiges of the revolution and the Eric Gairy regime that preceded it. The new architecture was intended to transcend authoritarianism, intra-party conflict and political violence to turn Grenada into a showcase for democracy and free enterprise. This chapter maps the contours of party politics in post-revolutionary Grenada. It argues that Grenada has transitioned to formal democracy but has not yet achieved deeper substantive democracy. The chapter teases out lessons from the Grenada case for democratic renewal in the Caribbean.

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book focuses on the interdependent relationship between youths' political engagement, their development, and societal health. Youth and societal institutions are strengthened when young people, particularly those most disadvantaged by education inequity, turn their critical gaze to education systems and participate in efforts to improve them. The book's case studies of youth organizing and student activism analyze what these experiences mean for young people and why they are good for a socially just democracy. This research is motivated by questions about the relationship between youth activism, human development, and democratic renewal: What is youth activism and how does it contribute to youth development? How might collective movements of young people expand educational opportunity in the United States and resuscitate participatory democracy?

This chapter locates ‘listening’ in contemporary democratic theory by looking at the rise of ‘sensory’ democracy and of non-ideal democratic theorizing. The somewhat pessimistic tenor of some recent democratic theory is rejected in favour of the argument that listening can renew democratic theory and practice. The relationship between listening and power is discussed, with listening regarded as an active rather than a passive sense. Jeffrey Green’s idea of ‘candour’ as a regulative idea is critically discussed and the idea of ‘dialogic democracy’ is introduced. Finally, a ‘species-based’ reason for why listening as concept and practice has been so studiously ignored by political theorists is offered. Aristotle’s claim that ‘man’ is a political animal, and that what makes him political is his capacity for speech, has had an enduring influence on how we conceive the currency of political intercourse. Listening changes the nature of this currency and therefore our understanding of politics itself.

Chapter 2 offers a critical review of three systemic accounts of deliberative democracy, focusing on their assumptions about democratic connectivity. It draws attention to the ‘communicative miracles’ that lie at the heart of each deliberative system account—‘miracles’ that are out of step with contemporary disconnects experienced in the representative process, in the public sphere itself, and along the policy process. The chapter shows that these ‘communicative miracles’ are not only theoretical blind spots, but also practical obstacles hindering deliberative democracy from speaking more directly to, and serving as a richer resource for, democratic renewal. The chapter calls for a more empirically informed account of connectivity in contemporary public deliberation, one that is grounded in the work and agency of those involved in making or strengthening connectivity. It argues that an abductive research approach that employs interpretive methods is particularly well suited for developing such empirically informed accounts of connectivity. The chapter concludes by making the case for the close study of contemporary political practices, especially focused on how diverse actors are experiencing democratic disconnects, and what actions they are taking to mend them.

Chapter 6 draws together common insights from the three preceding empirical chapters to better understand the everyday practical work of democratic mending. The chapter introduces the concept of ‘connective practices’ to capture the individual and collective efforts of actors to mend their democratic systems, and discusses the different features of connective practices that make them especially effective for mending democratic disconnects. Drawing insights from the empirical cases presented throughout the book, the chapter identifies the relational, creative, adaptive, co-constituted, and iterative characteristics of connective practices, and considers their democratic implications.