THE PROJECT VOLUME - Introduction

Open Cite VOLUME

Publisher:  Pragma Publishing
Online publication date:  December 2023
Chapter DOI:  https://doi.org/10.62483/32057397

Introduction

Annabelle Lever

The eleven reports that make up this collection, form part of the Horizon 2020 project, REDEM. The acronym is short for Reconstructing Democracy in Times of Crisis: A Voter-Centred Perspective and the objective of our project was to illuminate the difference it makes to our understanding of electoral democracy, its appeal, and its difficulties, if one focuses on citizens as voters, rather than as politicians, journalists, commentators, or simple observers of the political game.

Given the close association of democracy with the right to vote, an effort to look at elections from the perspective of voters might seem unnecessary. After all, we might think, isn’t that what people do all the time? They speculate on what voters will or won’t do; on what they should or should not do; on how their behaviour, expectations, ideas, and ideals differ nowadays from those they had in the past. Such debates form the staple of popular political commentary, of academic study of elections, and of informal discussions amongst citizens, especially at election-time. But on closer inspection, none of these adopt the perspective of voters on voting, even if they purport to be about what voters want or believe their politicians will/should do. Instead, they take it for granted that we know what it is like to be a voter, and well-understand the challenges that come with exercising that role within a democratic political system.

A moment’s reflection, however, suggests that this is most unlikely to be the case, in part because there is so little public discussion of the rights and duties that come with being a voter, and because so many of the assumptions about those rights and duties are contradictory or confusing. Voters are regularly urged to take account of the likely effects of competing policies and parties on their own well-being and interests, even as they are told that they should, high-mindedly, consider what is good for their country overall. Nice though it would be if such injunctions were mutually consistent, it is clearly impossible for everyone in a country to vote for what most advantages them and what is best for their country, overall. So, what should we do, as voters, when these considerations conflict?

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Citation
Lever, A. (2023). Introduction. In A. Lever (Ed.), Reconstructing Democracy in Times of Crisis—A Voter-Centred Perspective (pp. 1–5). Pragma Publishing. https://doi.org/10.62483/32057397
Lever, A. (Ed.). (2023). Reconstructing Democracy in Times of Crisis—A Voter-Centred Perspective Pragma Publishing. https://doi.org/10.62483/73867875.
Lever, Annabelle. 2023. ‘Introduction’. In Reconstructing Democracy in Times of Crisis - A Voter-Centred Perspective, edited by Annabelle Lever, 1–5. Paris: Pragma Publishing. https://doi.org/10.62483/32057397.
Lever, A. (2023) ‘Introduction’, in A. Lever (ed.) Reconstructing Democracy in Times of Crisis - A Voter-Centred Perspective. Paris: Pragma Publishing, pp. 1–5. Available at: https://doi.org/10.62483/32057397.
Lever, Annabelle, ‘Introduction’, in Reconstructing Democracy in Times of Crisis - A Voter-Centred Perspective, ed. by Annabelle Lever (Paris: Pragma Publishing, 2023), pp. 1–5 <https://doi.org/10.62483/32057397>
Lever, Annabelle. ‘Introduction’. Reconstructing Democracy in Times of Crisis - A Voter-Centred Perspective, edited by Annabelle Lever, Pragma Publishing, 2023, pp. 1–5, https://doi.org/10.62483/32057397.
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