Democracy & Nature

Democracy & Nature was a theoretical journal founded in 1992 by Takis Fotopoulos. Initially launched as Society and Nature, it was renamed Democracy & Nature in 1995. Four volumes of three issues each were released by Aigis Publications in the period from 1992 to 1999. From 1999 to 2003, five more volumes were released by Taylor & Francis Group. Publication ceased at the end of 2003 and since 2004 it has been succeeded online by The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy (see external links).

Democracy & Nature's stated aim was to be a forum for a "new conception of democracy", given the name Inclusive Democracy in 1997. While maintaining that core function, the journal expanded to include coverage of a spectrum of radical alternative views. The journal tried to organize each issue around a central theme, which included themes like: "The Polis and Self-Management Today", "The Expansion of the South", "Mass Media, Culture and Democracy", "Radical Movements in Neoliberal Modernity", "The 'War' against Terrorism" and "Education, Paideia and Democracy". Contributors represented groups such as socialists, radical Greens, and feminists. The journal also served as a colloquium for a wide range of more-marginalized left groups, including libertarian socialists, social anarchists, and supporters of the autonomy/democratic project,^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]} which sometimes has led to heated exchanges.^[8][9][10]

The editorial board changed several times over the eleven years of Democracy & Nature's existence. Takis Fotopoulos as editor and Pavlos Stavropoulos as international co-ordinator served throughout, but several other editors contributed, including Steven Best from 1999 to 2003.

The "International Advisory Board" consisted at times of some of the most notable figures of the radical left such as Noam Chomsky and Harold Pinter. The board also included Parisians Pierre Bourdieu, Cornelius Castoriadis, and Serge Latouche, as well as Americans Murray Bookchin and Andre Gunder Frank. Aside from the editorial and advisory boards, the most well known contributors to the journal included Janet Biehl, Ward Churchill, Henry Giroux, and Ken Loach.

See as well

• Inclusive Democracy
• Takis Fotopoulos

References

1. ^ Dialogue on Socialism and Ecology: A debate by James O' Connor and Takis Fotopoulos (published also in the Capitalism, Nature, Socialism Newsletter
2. ^ James Hart & Ullrich Melle, "On Rudolf Bahro" and Janet Biehl, "Reply to Hart and Melle" Democracy & Nature, vol. 4, nos. 2/3, (issue 11/12) (1998)
3. ^ Dialogue with Proudhonists on Marx and Proudhon: Lutz Roemheld, "Marx-Proudhon: Their Exchange of Letters in 1846 On an episode of world-historical importance", Johannes Hilmer, "Two views about socialism: why Karl Marx shunned an academic debate with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon", Takis Fotopoulos, "Beyond Marx and Proudhon", Democracy & Nature, Vol.6, No. 1 (March 2000)
4. ^ Dialogue on irrational myths: Takis Fotopoulos, "The Rise of New Irrationalism and its Incompatibility with Inclusive Democracy", Democracy & Nature, Vol.4, No.2/3 (double issue 11/12) (1998), Thomas Martin "Response to Democracy & Nature Editorial on “Violent Myths”", Takis Fotopoulos, "The incompatibility of myths and democracy - Takis Fotopoulos’ reply", Democracy & Nature, Vol.8, No.1 (March 2002),
5. ^ Dialogue on the internet: Matt Hern and Stu Chaulk, "Roadgrading Community Culture: Why the Internet is so dangerous to real democracy", Takis Fotopoulos, "Takis Fotopoulos' Reply to ‘Roadgrading Community Culture: Why the Internet is so Dangerous to Real Democracy’", Democracy & Nature, Vol.6, No.1 (March 2000)
6. ^ Dialogue on feminism: Omer Caha "The Death of Feminism as an Antisystemic Movement or the Success of Feminism to Change the System from Within?", Takis Fotopoulos, "Takis Fotopoulos' reply to Omer Caha's Dialogue Article", Democracy & Nature, Vol.9, No.2 (July 2003)
7. ^ David Ames Curtis, "On the Bookchin/Biehl Resignations and the Creation of a New Liberatory Project", Cornelius Castoriadis Agora International Website and reply in "On a distorted view of the Inclusive Democracy project", Democracy & Nature, Vol.5, No.1 (March 1999). See also "The Autonomy and Inclusive Democracy Projects and "Agora's" Defamatory Delirium" which now includes a brief history of all the exchanges with a constantly updated, complete webography.
8. ^ Dialogue on the Eco-village movement: Ted Trainer, "Where are we, where do we want to be, how do we get there?", Takis Fotopoulos, "The limitations of Life-style strategies: The Ecovillage “Movement” is NOT the way towards a new democratic society", Democracy & Nature, Vol.6, No.2 (July 2000), Ted Trainer, "Debating the significance of the Global Eco-village Movement; A reply to Takis Fotopoulos", Takis Fotopoulos, "The transition to an alternative society: the Ecovillage movement, the Simpler Way and the Inclusive Democracy project", Democracy & Nature, Vol.8, No.1 (March 2002)
9. ^ Dialogue on Parecon: Takis Fotopoulos, Participatory Planning and Freedom of Choice in "Outline of an Economic Model for an Inclusive Democracy”, Vol.3, No.3 (issue 9) (1997); Michael Albert, “Reply to Democracy and Nature Comments”, dated 9 April 2004 of the old Znet site and 19 November 2008 of the new one (http://ruby.zcommunications.org/reply-to-democracy-and-nature-comments-by-michael-albert); Takis Fotopoulos "Inclusive Democracy and Participatory Economics", Democracy & Nature, Vol.9, No.3 (November 2003)
10. ^ Debate on the ID project Six Years On, rejoinder by Takis Fotopoulos, Democracy & Nature, Vol.9, No.3 (November 2003)

Literature

• Takis Fotopoulos:Towards An Inclusive Democracy (London/New York: Cassell Continuum, 1997), 401 pp.

External links

• Democracy & Nature The journal's official website
• The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy, ISSN: 1753-240X. Open access journal successor of Democracy&Nature.
• The Inclusive Democracy Project and Network