Responsive Democracy

Author : Christopher H. Achen
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400888743
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Democracy for Realists written by Christopher H. Achen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-29 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why our belief in government by the people is unrealistic—and what we can do about it Democracy for Realists assails the romantic folk-theory at the heart of contemporary thinking about democratic politics and government, and offers a provocative alternative view grounded in the actual human nature of democratic citizens. Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels deploy a wealth of social-scientific evidence, including ingenious original analyses of topics ranging from abortion politics and budget deficits to the Great Depression and shark attacks, to show that the familiar ideal of thoughtful citizens steering the ship of state from the voting booth is fundamentally misguided. They demonstrate that voters—even those who are well informed and politically engaged—mostly choose parties and candidates on the basis of social identities and partisan loyalties, not political issues. They also show that voters adjust their policy views and even their perceptions of basic matters of fact to match those loyalties. When parties are roughly evenly matched, elections often turn on irrelevant or misleading considerations such as economic spurts or downturns beyond the incumbents' control; the outcomes are essentially random. Thus, voters do not control the course of public policy, even indirectly. Achen and Bartels argue that democratic theory needs to be founded on identity groups and political parties, not on the preferences of individual voters. Now with new analysis of the 2016 elections, Democracy for Realists provides a powerful challenge to conventional thinking, pointing the way toward a fundamentally different understanding of the realities and potential of democratic government.

Author : Christopher H. Achen
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691178240
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Democracy for Realists written by Christopher H. Achen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-29 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why our belief in government by the people is unrealistic—and what we can do about it Democracy for Realists assails the romantic folk-theory at the heart of contemporary thinking about democratic politics and government, and offers a provocative alternative view grounded in the actual human nature of democratic citizens. Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels deploy a wealth of social-scientific evidence, including ingenious original analyses of topics ranging from abortion politics and budget deficits to the Great Depression and shark attacks, to show that the familiar ideal of thoughtful citizens steering the ship of state from the voting booth is fundamentally misguided. They demonstrate that voters—even those who are well informed and politically engaged—mostly choose parties and candidates on the basis of social identities and partisan loyalties, not political issues. They also show that voters adjust their policy views and even their perceptions of basic matters of fact to match those loyalties. When parties are roughly evenly matched, elections often turn on irrelevant or misleading considerations such as economic spurts or downturns beyond the incumbents' control; the outcomes are essentially random. Thus, voters do not control the course of public policy, even indirectly. Achen and Bartels argue that democratic theory needs to be founded on identity groups and political parties, not on the preferences of individual voters. Now with new analysis of the 2016 elections, Democracy for Realists provides a powerful challenge to conventional thinking, pointing the way toward a fundamentally different understanding of the realities and potential of democratic government.

Author : Jeeyang R Baum
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 0472025732
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.32/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Responsive Democracy written by Jeeyang R Baum and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2011-02-10 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Responsive Democracy is a pioneering contribution to the political analysis of administrative law in East Asia. Both political scientists and legal academics will greatly benefit from the author's in-depth analysis of the intersection between presidential power and administrative law in the contrasting cases of South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines." ---Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale University Law School "Baum's book is a very significant contribution because it focuses on a part of the world that has often been neglected in studies of democratization. It focuses attention on the nuts and bolts of what we mean by democratic consolidation and responsiveness. Indeed, if more political science were written with this clarity, we would all enjoy reading the literature much more!" ---Joseph Fewsmith, Boston University Under what conditions is a newly democratic government likely to increase transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to its citizens? What incentives might there be for bureaucrats, including those appointed by a previously authoritarian government, to carry out the wishes of an emerging democratic regime? Responsive Democracy addresses an important problem in democratic transition and consolidation: the ability of the chief executive to control the state bureaucracy. Using three well-chosen case studies---the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan---Jeeyang Rhee Baum explores the causes and consequences of codifying rules and procedures in a newly democratic government. In the Philippines, a president facing opposition has the option of appointing and dismissing officials at will and, therefore, has no need for administrative procedure acts. However, in South Korea and Taiwan, presidents employ such legislation to rein in recalcitrant government agencies, and, as a consequence, increase transparency, accountability, and responsiveness. Moreover, as Baum demonstrates by drawing upon surveys conducted both before and after implementation, administrative procedural reforms in South Korea and Taiwan improved public confidence in and attitudes toward democratic institutions. Jeeyang Rhee Baum is a Research Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Author : C. Eugene Steuerle
Publisher : The Urban Insitute
ISBN 13 : 9780877666769
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Government We Deserve written by C. Eugene Steuerle and published by The Urban Insitute. This book was released on 1998 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes a visionary look at what it will take to create a constructive national dialog on political choices that the next decade will bring. Explores a sweeping range of concerns and describes eight proposals that would return ownership of the government to the American majority, with chapters on the government's changing capacity to respond, the changing political process, the role of the public sector, and the changing shape of US federalism. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Author : Gilbert Burgh
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000474186
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Teaching Democracy in an Age of Uncertainty written by Gilbert Burgh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-29 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The strength of democracy lies in its ability to self-correct, to solve problems and adapt to new challenges. However, increased volatility, resulting from multiple crises on multiple fronts – humanitarian, financial, and environmental – is testing this ability. By offering a new framework for democratic education, Teaching Democracy in an Age of Uncertainty begins a dialogue with education professionals towards the reconstruction of education and by extension our social, cultural and political institutions. This book is the first monograph on philosophy with children to focus on democratic education. The book examines the ways in which education can either perpetuate or disrupt harmful social and political practices and narratives at the classroom level. It is a rethinking of civics and citizenship education as place-responsive learning aimed at understanding and improving human-environment relations to not only face an uncertain world, but also to face the inevitable challenges of democratic disagreement beyond merely promoting pluralism, tolerance and agreement. When viewed as a way of life democracy becomes both a goal and a teaching method for developing civic literacy to enable students to articulate and apprehend more than just the predominant political narrative, but to reshape it. This book will be of interest to scholars of philosophy, political science, education, democratic theory, civics and citizenship studies, and peace education research.

Author : Michael T. Oswald
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030247929
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mobilization, Representation, and Responsiveness in the American Democracy written by Michael T. Oswald and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-09-30 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume investigates America’s transforming democracy as it faces the challenges and developments of the 21st century—challenges and developments that have brought deep dissatisfaction, cultural fragmentation, and economic indignation. Although political power remains in the hands of the people, a fundamental incapability to compromise has locked policymakers in a permanent stalemate. In this legislative paralysis, grassroots movements build more and more momentum amidst regular protests and civil disobedience. This new political vigor and dynamism is dualistic, portending either a future of falsehoods and authoritarianism or a more empowering and direct form of democracy. This book ultimately seeks to understand how the US government is frantically adjusting to these sharp cultural, technological, and economic changes.

Author : Stuart N. Soroka
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108491340
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Information and Democracy written by Stuart N. Soroka and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-02-03 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A large-scale empirical investigation into the frequency and accuracy of media coverage of public policy.

Author : Stuart N. Soroka
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521868335
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Degrees of Democracy written by Stuart N. Soroka and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book develops and tests a 'thermostatic' model of public opinion and policy and examines both responsiveness and representation across a range of policy domains in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, concluding that representative democratic government functions surprisingly well.

Author : Lawrence R. Jacobs
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226389837
Total Pages : 454 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Politicians Don't Pander written by Lawrence R. Jacobs and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2000-06-21 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this provocative and engagingly written book, the authors argue that politicians seldom tailor their policy decisions to "pander" to public opinion. In fact, they say that when not facing election, contemporary presidents and members of Congress routinely ignore the public's preferences and follow their own political philosophies. 37 graphs.

Author : Devin Caughey
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226822214
Total Pages : 231 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Dynamic Democracy written by Devin Caughey and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-12-06 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new perspective on policy responsiveness in American government. Scholars of American politics have long been skeptical of ordinary citizens’ capacity to influence, let alone control, their governments. Drawing on over eight decades of state-level evidence on public opinion, elections, and policymaking, Devin Caughey and Christopher Warshaw pose a powerful challenge to this pessimistic view. Their research reveals that although American democracy cannot be taken for granted, state policymaking is far more responsive to citizens’ demands than skeptics claim. Although governments respond sluggishly in the short term, over the long term, electoral incentives induce state parties and politicians—and ultimately policymaking—to adapt to voters’ preferences. The authors take an empirical and theoretical approach that allows them to assess democracy as a dynamic process. Their evidence across states and over time gives them new leverage to assess relevant outcomes and trends, including the evolution of mass partisanship, mass ideology, and the relationship between partisanship and ideology since the mid-twentieth century; the nationalization of state-level politics; the mechanisms through which voters hold incumbents accountable; the performance of moderate candidates relative to extreme candidates; and the quality of state-level democracy today relative to state-level democracy in other periods.