This paper outlines a case for the reconfiguration of the public sphere as discursive space, arguing that such a reconfiguration better enables investigations into public debates on education. The paper focuses on one such investigation, which studied one newspaper's reporting of a review of the school curriculum in Queensland, Australia. It employs Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse the interrelationships between policy discourses and the discourses about the review that were constructed in the print media. The paper shows how the dynamic (...) structure of the public sphere enabled discursive connections to be made across sites in order to privilege a shared public discourse on education policy, schools and teachers. In so doing, it demonstrates the capacity of the public sphere to define educational issues and identities in particular ways. (shrink)

This article seeks to illuminate the figure of the child in democratic politics by arguing that children play a constitutive role as temporary outsiders who present both renewal and risk to the demos. Using Hannah Arendt’s concept of natality, we begin with an ontological account of children as new individuals that are central to renewing democratic freedom and plurality. In the second section, we explore how children can be conceived in terms of political risk by focussing on Arendt’s debate with (...) Ralph Ellison concerning the desegregation of American schools in the 1960s. Their arguments about whether children should appear in politics underscores the constitutive role that child–adult relationships play in debates about the normative fabric of democratic society. Finally, we use the radical democratic theory of Chantal Mouffe to argue that children can be characterised as an excluded group of potential adversaries that appear in political contests over claims to represent the demos. From this perspective, the article reveals that children are central figures in democratic politics because they are constituents of an unknown future polity. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta un análisis entre el activismo ambiental encabezado por niños, niñas y adolescentes y la democracia deliberativa. Sostengo que ya no basta solo con reconocer la importancia de las voces de los menores de edad, sino que es necesario un reconocimiento político. De este modo, se pone en primer plano la naturaleza transformadora de la democracia deliberativa entre adultos y los niños, niñas y adolescentes. Para comprender el impacto del activismo ambiental en la democracia deliberativa, es necesaria una (...) comprehensión no solo de los derechos, sino también de las capacidades y la agencia de los niños, las niñas y adolescentes. Para ello propongo abordar este asunto desde el enfoque del children’s capabilitarianism y el childism. El primero enfatiza la importancia de las capacidades de los niños, las niñas y adolescentes para participar activamente en los procesos de toma de decisiones mientras que el segundo hace hincapié en modificar la comprensión tradicional de las estructuras sociales adultocéntricas, abogando por un enfoque que incluya las experiencias vividas de los niños, las niñas y adolescentes. (shrink)