Thinking about
Democracy and Policy
POSC 1200U
In this video
 Why words matter – article by Massey (2013)
 Definitions & language
 Policy & policy-making
 Leonard Cohen’s 1992 song, “Democracy”
Why words matter
 "We
all have to remember that hate crimes is preceded by
hate speech ... The holocaust did not start with the gas
chambers; It started long before with hate speech." Adama
Dieng, https://twitter.com/i/status/1211674906154426368
 Doreen Massey, Vocabularies of the economy, Soundings: A
journal of politics and culture, Issue 54, Summer 2013, pp. 9-22
 “The language we use has effects in moulding identities and
characterising social relationships. It is crucial to the formation
of the ideological scaffolding of the hegemonic common
sense. Discourse matters. Moreover it changes, and it can through political work - be changed.” (p. 9)
 What does it mean for democracy if we are seen as consumers
or customers rather than citizens?
What is Massey’s evidence?
“Public” worker or public sector
Fire fighters, police, teachers, nurses
Water, roads, hydro, hospitals
Mandatory exercise of free choice
Liberty
Citizens or customers?
 “Citizens Are Not ‘Customers’ Of The State,”
https://www.broadsheet.ie/2018/08/01/citizens-are-not-customersof-the-state/
 “Our Commitment to our Customers
 “The Department of the Taoiseach is committed to providing a
professional, efficient and courteous service to all our customers…We will
treat all our customers equally and make every effort to ensure that the
services we provide reflect your needs and expectations.”
 The Battle to Impeach Trump Is Part of a Global Struggle for
Democracy, Henry Giroux, https://truthout.org/articles/the-battleto-impeach-trump-is-part-of-a-global-struggle-for-democracy/
(Jan. 19, 2020)
 “We must understand Trump’s crimes not as an endpoint but as
symptoms of a long history of conditions that have led to the United
States’ slide into the abyss of authoritarianism.”
Definitions & Language
 Economy: “An economy is the large set of inter-related production and consumption
activities that aid in determining how scarce resources are allocated. The production
and consumption of goods and services are used to fulfill the needs of those living and
operating within the economy, which is also referred to as an economic system.”
1. Wealth, output, growth and work
 GNP = gross national product
 Externalities
2. Investment, expenditure and speculation
 Taxation
 Public policy: the sum total of government action, from signals of intent to final
outcomes.
 Policy  ‘tools’ or ‘instruments’.
 Actors  organizations or people who take action
 Policymakers  elected or unelected people or organizations.
 Theory  a set of analytical principles designed to structure our observations and
explanation of world
Policy and policy-making
 How can policy be understood?
 As a label for a field of activity (health policy)
 An expression of intent (we will improve healthcare)
 Outcomes vs process = evidence vs opinion
 Ideal-type = an abstract idea used to highlight hypothetical
features of an organization or action
 Comprehensive rationality
 Normative or prescriptive = how things should be
 Empirical or descriptive = how things are
Break time - Leonard Cohen (1992), Democracy
It's coming through a hole in the
air
From those nights in Tiananmen
Square
It's coming from the feel
That this ain't exactly real
Or it's real, but it ain't exactly
there
From the wars against disorder
From the sirens night and day
From the fires of the homeless
From the ashes of the gay
Democracy is coming to the
USA
It's coming through a crack in
the wall
On a visionary flood of alcohol
From the staggering account
Of the Sermon on the Mount
Which I don't pretend to
understand at all
It's coming from the silence
On the dock of the bay,
From the brave, the bold, the
battered
Heart of Chevrolet
Democracy is coming to the
USA
It's coming from the sorrow in the street
The holy places where the races meet
From the homicidal bitchin'
That goes down in every kitchen
To determine who will serve and who will
eat
From the wells of disappointment
Where the women kneel to pray
For the grace of God in the desert here
And the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the USA
Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on
It's coming to America first
The cradle of the best and of the worst
It's here they got the range
And the machinery for change
And it's here they got the spiritual thirst
It's here the family's broken
And it's here the lonely say
That the heart has got to open
In a fundamental way
Democracy is coming to the USA
It's coming from the women and the men
O baby, we'll be making love again
We'll be going down so deep
The river's going to weep,
And the mountain's going to shout Amen
It's coming like the tidal flood
Beneath the lunar sway
Imperial, mysterious
In amorous array
Democracy is coming to the USA
Sail on, sail on
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the
scene
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
That Time cannot decay
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
This little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the USA
Source: LyricFind, Songwriters: Leonard
Cohen, Democracy lyrics © Sony/ATV Music
Publishing LLC