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Hilary Wainwright, Reclaim the State: Experiments in Popular Democracy Seagull Books, 2009

Red Pepper

Are people allowed by current governments and political systems to realize their creative and political potential? If not, why not? And how should the knowledge not of experts and elites but of ordinary folks be valued and used? Hilary Wainwright talks about democracy, political agency, and efforts to push back against top-down ways of governing.

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Chris Spannos, ed., Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century AK Press, 2008

If part of the Left's agenda involves building a new society, what should that society look like? In a new book, Stephen Shalom proposes a participatory system of political decision-making based on nested councils, and Cynthia Peters examines how family, caregiving and sexuality could be better structured and supported.

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Paul Ginsborg, Silvio Berlusconi: Television, Power and Patrimony Verso, 2004

Paul Ginsborg, Democracy Profile, 2008

A wealthy media magnate named Sylvio Berlusconi was first elected prime minister of Italy in 1994. What have his three stints as Italy's leader meant for democracy and dissent? Paul Ginsborg contends that Berlusconi's use of the media, of clientelism, and of notions of negative freedom has stymied meaningful popular political participation.