Emma Larouche
27 June 2023: An essay series spanning across the globe has marked a milestone 100 submissions, after being launched by University of Canberra philosopher of democracy Dr Jean-Paul Gagnon.
Dr Gagnon’s original essay was published in June 2021, sparking a debate among scholars and students from 76 universities across 26 countries around the world.
“I wrote about my displeasure with conventional democracy research and proposed an alternative approach, which prompted fellow academics and postgraduate students to submit their ideas about democracy,” Dr Gagnon said.
The European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) – the leading European academic association, of which the University of Canberra is a member institution – formalised the discussion in a series of essays. The 100th essay in the Science of Democracy series was published this week.
“The level of engagement my proposition has received has been very humbling,” Dr Gagnon said.
Dr Gagnon describes the initiative as ‘unprecedented’, as it offers useful advice on all known democracies rather than pushing one type of democracy, such as the process of elections.
“Together we are uncovering lost and forgotten ways of being democratic and are establishing new ways for doing democracy,” Dr Gagnon said.
Following the 100-essay milestone, is a plan to develop an open access encyclopedia of democracies, including the development of an Artificial Intelligence tool to respond to questions from consumers about the history of democracy.
Together with colleagues from six other countries, Dr Gagnon also founded a new journal – The Annual Review for the Sciences of the Democracies – a direct result of the ECPR short essay series. The open access journal will begin publishing in the coming months.
He is also establishing The International Iris Young and David Held Prize in Democratic Theory with Dr Emily Beausoleil from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. The inaugural winner is expected to be announced in December.
“So far this project has led to many opportunities for writing, publishing, international collaboration, and ultimately, having the truly meaningful pleasure of meeting new thinkers from around the globe,” Dr Gagnon said.
“All of this work has the potential to impact the way individuals, families, schools, workplaces, all levels of government, and other sorts of communities and organisations do democracy.”
Photo by David Beach.
