Mending Democracy

Carolyn M. Hendriks is a Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. Her work examines democratic aspects of contemporary governance, including participation, deliberation, inclusion and representation. Carolyn has undertaken numerous empirical research projects in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands on the role of interests, power, networks, markets and elites in participatory modes of governing. She has published widely on different aspects of public engagement in public policy and politics including two books, over 30 scholarly journal articles, and numerous book chapters. Carolyn is an appointed individual member of the global network Democracy R&D. She also sits on the new Democracy Foundation's Research Committee, and on the editorial boards of several international journals, including the European Journal of Political Research, Policy and Society and the Journal of Deliberative Democracy.Selen A. Ercan is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra. Her work sits at the intersection of normative democratic theory and empirical political research, and examines a wide range of topics including the politics of inclusion and exclusion in multicultural societies, public deliberation in the face of value conflicts and polarised public debates, and the potential of new forms of political participation and protest movements in reviving democratic practice. Selen's publications on these topics have appeared in various journals including International Political Science Review, Policy and Politics, Democratic Theory, Social Movement Studies, and Critical Policy Studies.John Boswell is an Associate Professor in Politics at the University of Southampton. His work on deliberative democracy and democratic renewal draws on other key interests in policy studies and interpretive methods and theory. He has published conceptual and empirical work on these themes in journals such as Political Studies, Perspectives on Politics, Policy Sciences, and the European Journal of Political Research.

Fraying and fragile, the fabric of democracy is generally viewed as being increasingly threadbare. In this context Mending Democracy offers an account of political life that is as refreshing as it is sophisticated. From kitchens to cafes and from knitting-clubs to workplace corridors, the focus on everyday life reveals a set of creative practices that pose new questions and - more importantly - new opportunities for those thinking about the future of democracy. Mending Democracy is undoubtedly one of the most important books published on this topic in recent decades.

• 1: Repairing Democracy's Disconnects 2: Conceptualising Connectivity in Deliberative Democracy 3: Connecting Elected Representatives with their Constituents: The Case of Indi 4: Connecting Publics in a Fractured Public Sphere: The Case of Knitting Nannas Against Gas 5: Connecting Citizens and Administrative Policy-Making: The Case of British Healthcare Agencies 6: Connective Practices: The Everyday Work of Democratic Mending 7: Towards a Connective Turn in Deliberative Democracy 8: Advancing a Connective Approach to Democratic Reform