Resurrecting Democracy Faith, Citizenship, and the Politics of a Common Life [Paperback]

This book assesses the construction of citizenship as an identity, a performance, and a shared rationality.Through a case study of community organizing in the global city of London and an examination of the legacy of Saul Alinsky around the world, this book assesses the construction of citizenship as an identity, a performance, and a shared rationality.Through a case study of community organizing in the global city of London and an examination of the legacy of Saul Alinsky around the world, this book assesses the construction of citizenship as an identity, a performance, and a shared rationality.Through a case study of community organizing in the global city of London and an examination of the legacy of Saul Alinsky around the world, this book develops a constructive account of the relationship between religious diversity, democratic citizenship, and economic and political accountability. Based on an in-depth, ethnographic study, Part I identifies and depicts a consociational, populist and post-secular vision of democratic citizenship by reflecting on the different strands of thought and practice that feed into and help constitute community organizing. Particular attention is given to how organizing mediates the relationship between Christianity, Islam and Judaism and those without a religious commitment in order to forge a common life. Part II then unpacks the implications of this vision for how we respond to the spheres in which citizenship is enacted, namely, civil society, the sovereign nation-state, and the globalized economy. Overall, the book outlines a way of re-imagining democracy, developing innovative public policy, and addressing poverty in the contemporary context.Introduction; Part I: 1. The origins of organizing: an intellectual history; 2. Faith and citizenship in a world city; 3. Reimagining the secular: interfaith relations as a civic practice; 4. An anatomy of organizing I: listening, analysis, and building power; 5. An anatomy of organizing II: clƒ#