The Institutional Configuration of Deweyan Democracy

Details

Author(s):
  • William Simon
Publish Date:
October 6, 2011
Publication Title:
Columbia Public Law Research Paper No. 11-286; Stanford Public Law Working Paper No. 1957332
Format:
Working Paper
Citation(s):
  • William H. Simon, The Institutional Configuration of Deweyan Democracy, Columbia Public Law Research Paper No. 11-286; Stanford Public Law Working Paper No. 1957332 (2011).

Abstract

After more than two decades of effort to recover and adapt John Dewey’s thought for a reformed liberal politics, the institutional implications of his ideas remain elusive. This essay argues that a distinctive set of modern business practices and an incipient public policy architecture embody key precepts of Dewey’s political theory. The practices and architecture have developed independently of Dewey’s ideas, but they elaborate the ideas implicitly, and they are illuminated by them.