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Donatella della Porta Polity Press, Cambridge, 2013, 256pp., £16.99/£55,
ISBN: 978-0745664606/978-0745664590
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The starting point of Donnatella della Porta's book is the observation that democracy is spreading worldwide. At the same time discontent with democratic systems is increasing as well. Della Porta takes this discontent seriously and is concerned about the options to save democracy. Although she discusses different concepts of democracy, her normative perspective is unambiguous: 'Saving democracy would mean to go beyond its liberal model, broadening reflection on participation and deliberation inside and outside institutions.' (p. 2) Accordingly, besides the liberal model of democracy, della Porta distinguishes in an innovative way three further models, that is, liberal deliberative democracy, radical participatory democracy and participatory deliberative democracy. However, her objective is not just to elaborate these models, but to combine them with social movement research - both on theoretical and empirical grounds. This leads to her main claim that social movements (can) act as 'promoters of another democracy' (p. 11).
The first chapters of the book are dedicated to discussions of the aforementioned models of democracy. However, in the chapter on deliberative democracy empirical data on social movements is introduced. Della Porta refers to empirical research on democratic conceptions of global justice movements and shows their deliberative approach (p. 68ff.). And she also elaborates the experimental attempts of social movements with consensual methods, horizontal communication and deliberation 'with emphasis on respect and inclusivity' (p. 83). The following chapters tackle topics often mentioned in...