Declining voter turnout, the rise of political extremes, and diminishing public trust how democracy be sustained beyond the act of voting from a legal perspective, this volume examines the roles of the media, the arts, education, and political parties, while also exploring whether new forms of civic participation are needed.
Elections are central to democratic self-determination and to legitimizing the exercise of state authority. Yet democracy is, of course, not exhausted by elections alone. The German Federal Constitutional Court, for instance, has described freedom of expression as »constitutive in the strictest sense« for democracy. Against the backdrop of low voter turnout, the rise of extremist forces, and a widely perceived decline in trust in parliament and government, legal scholarship is increasingly confronted with the question of how democracy can be sustained beyond the act of voting, and what challenges and limits arise in this regard.
This edited volume examines, first, society and its intermediary institutions as arenas of free democratic opinion formation, while recognizing that they are also subject to state regulation and steering. Across a range of fields, including civic education, schools, universities, the arts and culture, media, and broadcasting, the contributions explore the tensions between autonomy and state intervention from a sector-specific perspective. Second, in light of the frequently diagnosed »crisis of representation,« the volume addresses the growing disconnect between electoral rights and actual affectedness. Given that democracy is also grounded in human rights considerations, it increasingly requires justification why voting rights remain restricted to adult citizens rather than being extended to all those who permanently reside in Germany or are subject to the authority of the state. Forms of participation beyond parliament, particularly advisory councils, committees, and the judiciary, seek to remedy this deficit, yet they themselves face objections, especially with regard to the democratic principle and the separation of powers.
Table of contents:
Vorwort
Teil I: Gesellschaft
Margrit Seckelmann: Autonomie und Kommunikation: zum Umgang mit „empörter Kunst» - Judith Froese: Die Universität als Raum des Diskurses - Winfried Kluth: Staatsgeld für politische Bildung
Teil II: Betroffenheiten
Elisabeth Rossa: Nicht wahlberechtigte Bürger. Demokratietheoretische Anforderungen an die Partizipation - Ferdinand Weber: Ausländer in Deutschland
Teil III: Intermediäre
Eva Wagner: Demokratie jenseits des Wahlakts: private und soziale Medien - Christian von Coelln: Öffentlich-rechtlicher Rundfunk - Foroud Shirvani: Finanzierung von Parteien und parteinahen politischen Stiftungen
Teil IV: Beteiligungsformate
Matthias Friehe: Beteiligungsformat Bürgerrat? - Silvia Pernice-Warnke: Generationengremium - Daniel Thym: Ambivalenzen der „virtuellen Repräsentation« durch die Gerichtsbarkeit
