Answer to Questions: Agre, p. 201, pp. 211-214

1. What is the central problem for citizens in democracies?

The central problem is finding out in what ways can a citizen's voice be heard among millions of people and participate successfully in a society .

2. What skills do citizens need?
The skills needed are to build social capital and participate in collective production and circulation of political arguments. Also it is important for citizens to associate themselves with issues.

3. What term does the author use to describe the process citizens use to promote their concerns about an issue?
The author writes that citizens could make it in "entrepreneurial fashion by identifying issues that are coming to prominence, researching and analyzing them, staking out public positions on them, and building social networks of other citizens who have associated themselves with related issues, especially those whose positions are ideologically compatible."

4. What steps are the four steps in this process?

The process has four dimensions which are

・Vertical dimension: a person staking out an issue on the national level will connect with people who stake out the same issue on global or the regional level

・Geographic dimension: a person staking out issue in a given geographic jurisdiction will connect with their counterparts in other jurisdictions

・Institutional dimension: a person staking out an issue within one institutional context will connect with those who stake out the same issue in other institutions

・Ideological dimension: a person staking out ideologically related positions on different issues in similar institutional locations will connect with on another

The four dimensions are definite network stucture and requires a large number of particular negotiations and a great deal of issue-by-issue coalition- building stabilized by ideology.

Write two of your own questions on the ideas and issues raised in this section. Lead a class discussion next session.

5. By making what kind of attempt do you think your voice can be heard in the society?

6. The author wrote that "individuals can stake out issues and build political networks with in their professions, their churches, their unions, their industries, or their political organizations." Where will you begin with to build your networks and how will you do that?

7. Based on the ideas and issues raised on these pages, what additions, deletions, or modifications suggest themselves to you in planning and implementing your Issue Entrepreneurship? Tell about your ideas.

As the author stated in the last paragraph, "democratic republicanism is a stroy not of perfection but of progess" reminded me that the attempt to spread an issue through my network is taking a part in the democratic community and offer some influence even if it is just a little bit of change I can make. Therefore, I will try to propagate my message by as much ways as I can think of and through as much net work as I can make.