Submissions

The journal welcomes unsolicited submissions for its blog from academics and professionals with expertise in political theory, governance, democracy, and civil society. Every submission will be reviewed by the journal’s staff, which will communicate a decision within a few weeks. If accepted, submissions will be edited by the staff and returned to the author for their review.

Submission Guidelines 
Submissions must be typed in Word or Google Docs and should not exceed 2,500 words. References can appear as hyperlinks within the text or as numbered Chicago-style endnotes. Please include a short, 2-3 sentence biography and subject line in your email. If you wish to include a header image, please indicate the source and, if you do not own the image, ensure that it is available for reposting.

How to Submit
All submissions should be emailed as attachments (or shareable links, if using Google Docs) to Democracy and Society at democracyandsociety@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter @DemSociety for updates on our platforms and publications. 

Visit our blog at https://democracyandsociety.net for news and op-eds on governance and civil society.

The 2022-23 volume is now closed for submissions.

Call for Papers: Democracy & Society Vol. 20 (2022-23) 

The Democracy and Governance Program at Georgetown University is seeking well-written, interesting submissions of 1,500 – 2,000 words for the 2022-23 edition of its publication — Democracy & Society. The submissions can be new publications, summaries, excerpts of recently completed research, book reviews, and works in progress. Graduate and undergraduate submissions of high academic rigor are also accepted. Submissions for this issue are due by February 10, 2023. Please email all submissions to democracyandsociety@gmail.com with ‘Journal Submission’ in the subject-line. Democracy & Society reviews submissions on the basis of merit and deeply encourages intellectual and ideological diversity.  

This upcoming issue will deal with Democracy and Equality and we are seeking articles that address the following themes:

Citizenship, Social Contract and the State

Citizenship is the legal institution that designates full membership of an individual in a state, with its associated rights and duties. A state grants its citizens certain political, social, and legal rights; in return, citizens are expected to assume specific responsibilities toward the state. Citizenship provides benefits, such as the right to vote, better employment opportunities, the ability to travel without restrictions, legal protection in case of criminal charges, and the possibility of obtaining a visa for a relative. There are also costs to citizenship, such as the military draft, renunciation of the original citizenship, and the pecuniary and non-pecuniary fees that may be required for naturalization and recognition at the age of majority. The increasing pressure of international migration has brought citizenship policies to center stage on policy agendas. Citizenship laws affect not only immigration policy but also labor markets, welfare programs, and demographic trends. In such a context, how should governments respond to the increasing number of international migrants? Should migration laws become more liberal or restrictive? Do we need a new definition and a new set of tenets to citizenship? How should governments treat dual citizenship? Should it be allowed, or should there be limitations? What do you think about visas? Should governments enforce visas, or are they a tool for legalized discrimination? Many questions surrounding the concept of citizenship that will need further exploration in an age of mass international migration.

Social Spending and Public Education 

It is necessary to ensure that the exercise of government is sustainable, not only from the point of view of democratic discourse but also in its ability to generate results. If educational spending impacts social function, why isn’t there a more significant effort on the part of the government so that there is a noticeable and perceptible improvement in the conditions of access and quality of life of the population? What then translates into the unsatisfied expectation of a population that demands improvement?

Climate Change and Migration

Climate change poses not only an existential threat to the planet, it poses unique and legitimate security crises across the globe. How do we ensure that any proposed solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change are distributed equitably across developed and developing countries? Should the most polluting countries be held accountable and made to assist, financially or otherwise, smaller, less polluting countries that are disproportionately impacted by climate change, and if so, how? Because climate change will likely forcibly relocate large swaths of the global population, how should the individual states and/or the international system best prepare for this eventuality? Although climate change and the mass migration it will cause are, at their core, crises of human security, domestic and international security will also be threatened; how should we best conceptualize and/or address the transnational security threats posed by these crises?   

Variations on these themes, as well as research that is relevant to these aforementioned themes, will be considered. 

Please visit https://government.georgetown.edu/democracy-and-governance for more information about the M.A. in Democracy and Governance and the Center for Democracy and Civil Society. 

See https://government.georgetown.edu/democracy-and-society/ and select “Submission Guidelines” for the D&S Style Guide.

Visit our blog at https://democracyandsociety.net for news and op-eds on governance and civil society.

Follow us on Twitter @DemSociety and Instagram @GeorgetownDemGov for updates on our platforms and publications.