Table Of Content

RADICAL DEMOCRACY C. Douglas Lummis Cornell University Press : Ithaca and London Copyright © 1996 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 148 50. First published 1996 by Cornell University Press. Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lummis, C. Douglas, 1936- Radical Democracy I C. Douglas Lummis. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-8014-3169-7 (alk. paper) 1. Democracy. 2. Radicalism. 3. World politics. I. Title. JC421.L86 1996 95-40119 321.8-dc20 i§ The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. contents Acknowledgments vu Extracts i Introduction 9 Radical Democracy 14 Antidemocratic Development 4 5 2 3 Antidemocratic Machines 79 4 Democracy's Flawed Tradition 111 5 The Democratic Virtues 143 Conclusion: Persephone's Return 159 Notes 165 Index 179 acknowledgments I wrote most of the first draft of this book during a sabbatical leave from Tsuda College during the year 1987-88. The first half of that year I spent as a visiting research fellow at the Third World Studies Center, University of the Philippines, and I thank TWSC and its then director, Randolf S. David, for granting me not only that status but also one of its most pre cious privileges, a desk in the library. During that period I had fruitful conversations not only with Randy David but also with TWSC Vice Director Cynthia Bautista, P. B. Abinales, Alexander Magno, and other TWSC researchers. I also had the privilege of coteaching a political theory course with Salvador Carlos and learned much from conversations with him. TWSC also sponsored three talks in which I presented first drafts of what became the first three chapters of this book, for which I re ceived lively and thoughtful criticism. I am particularly grateful to Reynoldo Racasa y Ty, who rented us a room in his lovely house and pro vided a rich and lively education in Philippine politics and society at his dinner table. During the second half of the year I was a visiting scholar at the Insti tute for the Study of Social Change at the University of California, Berke ley, and for that appointment I thank both the institute and its director, Troy Duster. The institute sponsored a talk at which I was able to present what was by then a second draft of Chapter 2. During that period R. Jef frey Lustig let us have the cottage in his back yard in Berkeley, read chap ter drafts, gave very helpful criticisms, and even let me beat him at pool sometimes. Thanks Jeff! The next group I must mention is a little hard to identify, as it has no name. This is a rather vaguely defined study group that meets irregu larly, originally organized by Ivan Illich. I had the privilege of joining this group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1988, at Pennsylvania State Uni versity in 1988 and 1989 and at Houston, Texas (after the anti-G7 TOES [The Other Economic Summit] conference there), in 1990. The outcome of these meetings was The Development Dictionary: A Guide vm acknowledgments to Knowledge as Power, ed. Wolfgang Sachs (London: Zed Books, i992). My own contribution to that volume ("Equality," pp. 38-52) overlaps considerably with Chapter 2 of this volume, and I owe much to our conversations at those meetings. I am particularly indebted not only to Illich and Sachs but also to Harry Cleaver, Barbara Duden, Gus tavo Esteva, Ashis Nandy, Majid Rahnema, Jean Robert, and Teodor Shanin. Another experience that influenced this book was my participation in the planning for the series of conferences held in Japan in the summer of i989 and collectively called The People's Plan for the 21st Century, in particular the year-long discussion that led to the text of the Minamata Declaration. I am especially indebted to my colleague at Pacific-Asia Re source Center (PARC) Muto Ichiyo, from whom I have learned that any theory of democracy or liberation which stops at the national boundary is-at least at this moment in history-an impoverished one. In addition, I have gained many insights at Tsuda College from coteaching, with my colleague Miura Nagamitsu, a course we designed together as a critical history of progress theory. The manuscript itself has been read carefully and criticized thought fully by-in addition to Lustig-Frank Bardacke, Hanna Pitkin, John Schaar, and Mark Selden. The encouragement I get from these people is the spiritual bread I eat. I owe special thanks to Jeffrey Isaac, the outside reader for Cornell University Press, for his helpful and constructive sug gestions. I note in the Introduction my debts to Muro Kenji, Tsurumi Shunsuke, and Sheldon Wolin. Heartfelt thanks go to Narahara Junko and Yamaga Junko of Lingua Guild for their professional typing. I thank my father, Keith Lummis, who gave me, among many other things, the lines that could stand as the epigraph for this book: You don't have to be smart. All you have to do is stop, And think. Typically the worst moment in acknowledgments by a male author comes at the very end, when he thanks the Patient Wife. Here, I prefer to thank my wife, Saito Yasuko, not for her patience but for her impatience. She has helped me to keep the project in proper perspective with her oc casional, "What? Are you still working on that thing?" You would think that with all this help the manuscript that follows would be a whole lot better than it is. The reader will know whom to blame for the discrepancy. acknowledgments ix The seed of this book is my article "The Radicalism of Democracy," which appeared in democracy 2, no. 4 (Fall 1982), copyright© 1982 by The Common Good Foundation. This article was also published (in Japanese) in The Radical Constitution of Japan (Tokyo: Shobunsha, 1987). Chapter 2 originally appeared as "Development against Democ racy" in Alternatives: Social Transformation and Human Governance i 6, no. i (Winter 1991 ), copyright © 1991 by Alternatives; used with per mission of Lynn Rienner Publishers, Inc. It also appeared as "Develop ment Is Anti-Democratic" in Kasarinlan 6, no. 3 (1st Quarter 1991). Some sections included in this chapter are revisions of passages that also appeared in Wolfgang Sachs, ed., The Development Dictionary (London: Zed Books, 1992). Chapter 5 was included in A Book of Friends, a Festschrifft celebrating the sixty-fifth birthday of Ivan Illich. I thank the editors of these publications for their permission to use these materials. C.D.L. Tokyo RADICAL DEMOCRACY