Democratic health depends on citizens’ ability to participate in public debate

Evidence

In Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1961), Jurgen Habermas argues that in order for a democracy to thrive, there must be a space for political participation for all its citizens. According to Habermas, the public sphere is a space located in between individual private areas, such as one’s home and government-run spaces. It is in these public spaces where members of society meet and have rational debates about politics and matters pertaining to public life. These discussions provide citizens with a political voice and a sense of empowerment. The ability of citizens to participate in these discussions within the public sphere is one characteristic of a healthy democracy and a privilege afforded by citizenship. The inability to participate in debate and a public forum reflects an ailing democracy. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 451

Categorization

• DEFINE: Theoretical frame (Habermas public sphere) that the book deploys to argue surveillance excludes Muslims from democratic participation.
• XREF: connects to: Democratic institutional health determines how long vulnerability to the unprecedented lasts — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1645