The Decline Of Representative Democracy

Author : Alan Rosenthal
Publisher : SAGE
ISBN 13 : 0871879743
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Decline of Representative Democracy written by Alan Rosenthal and published by SAGE. This book was released on 1998 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on a leading scholar's firsthand observations of legislatures as well as extensive interviews with legislators, legislative staff, and lobbyists, this important work describes and analyzes the contemporary state of legislatures and the legislative process in the fifty states. It explores the principal elements of legislatures, including the processes by which legislation is enacted, the impact of the media, political competition and partisanship, lobbyists and lobbying, the challenge of ethics, the role of leadership, and the linkage between legislators and their constituencies. Thematically, Alan Rosenthal argues that despite the popular perception that legislatures are autocratic, arbitrary, isolated, unresponsive, and up for sale, legislatures are, in fact, extraordinarily democratic and becoming more so. He concludes, furthermore, that the dangers to representative democracy today are substantial. The Decline of Representative Democracy builds on the growing literature in state politics and state legislatures. It also relies on the author's participant-observer research, interviews conducted especially for this book, and his years in the field. Many illustrative examples help to clarify the theoretical points made throughout the book, which in turn provide provocative sources of debate for students of the legislative process.

Author : Joshua Kurlantzick
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 030018896X
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Democracy in Retreat written by Joshua Kurlantzick and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-19 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVSince the end of the Cold War, the assumption among most political theorists has been that as nations develop economically, they will also become more democratic—especially if a vibrant middle class takes root. This assumption underlies the expansion of the European Union and much of American foreign policy, bolstered by such examples as South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and even to some extent Russia. Where democratization has failed or retreated, aberrant conditions take the blame: Islamism, authoritarian Chinese influence, or perhaps the rise of local autocrats./divDIV /divDIVBut what if the failures of democracy are not exceptions? In this thought-provoking study of democratization, Joshua Kurlantzick proposes that the spate of retreating democracies, one after another over the past two decades, is not just a series of exceptions. Instead, it reflects a new and disturbing trend: democracy in worldwide decline. The author investigates the state of democracy in a variety of countries, why the middle class has turned against democracy in some cases, and whether the decline in global democratization is reversible./div

Author : David Stasavage
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691228973
Total Pages : 424 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Decline and Rise of Democracy written by David Stasavage and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Historical accounts of democracy's rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. The Decline and Rise of Democracy draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richer--democratic practices were present in many places, at many other times, from the Americas before European conquest, to ancient Mesopotamia, to precolonial Africa. Delving into the prevalence of early democracy throughout the world, David Stasavage makes the case that understanding how and where these democracies flourished--and when and why they declined--can provide crucial information not just about the history of governance, but also about the ways modern democracies work and where they could manifest in the future."--

Author : Jennifer L. McCoy
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780801884283
Total Pages : 380 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Unraveling of Representative Democracy in Venezuela written by Jennifer L. McCoy and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2006-03 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For four decades, Venezuela prided itself for having one of the most stable representative democracies in Latin America. Then, in 1992, Hugo Chávez Frías attempted an unsuccessful military coup. Six years later, he was elected president. Once in power, Chávez redrafted the 1961 constitution, dissolved the Congress, dismissed judges, and marginalized rival political parties. In a bid to create direct democracy, other Latin American democracies watched with mixed reactions: if representative democracy could break down so quickly in Venezuela, it could easily happen in countries with less-established traditions. On the other hand, would Chávez create a new form of democracy to redress the plight of the marginalized poor? In this volume of essays, leading scholars from Venezuela and the United States ask why representative democracy in Venezuela unraveled so swiftly and whether it can be restored. Its thirteen chapters examine the crisis in three periods: the unraveling of Punto Fijo democracy; Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution; and the course of "participatory democracy" under Chávez. The contributors analyze such factors as the vulnerability of Venezuelan democracy before Chávez; the role of political parties, organized labor, the urban poor, the military, and businessmen; and the impact of public and economic policy. This timely volume offers important lessons for comparative regime change within hybrid democracies. Contributors: Damarys Canache, Florida State University; Rafael de la Cruz, Inter-American Development Bank; José Antonio Gil, Yepes Datanalisis; Richard S. Hillman, St. John Fisher College; Janet Kelly, Graduate Institute of Business, Caracas; José E. Molina, University of Zulia; Mosés Naím, Foreign Policy; Nelson Ortiz, Caracas Stock Exchange; Pedro A. Palma, Graduate Institute of Business, Caracas; Carlos A. Romero and Luis Salamanca, Central University of Venezuela; Harold Trinkunas, Naval Postgraduate School.

Author : Sonia Alonso
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139501178
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Future of Representative Democracy written by Sonia Alonso and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-03-31 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Future of Representative Democracy poses important questions about representation, representative democracy and their future. Inspired by the last major investigation of the subject by Hanna Pitkin over four decades ago, this ambitious volume fills a major gap in the literature by examining the future of representative forms of democracy in terms of present-day trends and past theories of representative democracy. Aware of the pressing need for clarifying key concepts and institutional trends, the volume aims to break down barriers among disciplines and to establish an interdisciplinary dialogue among scholars. The contributors emphasise that representative democracy and its future is a subject of pressing scholarly concern and public importance. Paying close attention to the unfinished, two-centuries-old relationship between democracy and representation, this book offers a fresh perspective on current problems and dilemmas of representative democracy and the possible future development of new forms of democratic representation.

Author : Simon Tormey
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0745690513
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The End of Representative Politics written by Simon Tormey and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-05-19 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Representative politics is in crisis. Trust in politicians is at an all-time low. Fewer people are voting or joining political parties, and our interest in parliamentary politics is declining fast. Even oppositional and radical parties that should be benefitting from public disenchantment with politics are suffering. But different forms of political activity are emerging to replace representative politics: instant politics, direct action, insurgent politics. We are leaving behind traditional representation, and moving towards a politics without representatives. In this provocative new book, Simon Tormey explores the changes that are underway, drawing on a rich range of examples from the Arab Spring to the Indignados uprising in Spain, street protests in Brazil and Turkey to the emergence of new initiatives such as Anonymous and Occupy. Tormey argues that the easy assumptions that informed our thinking about the nature and role of parties, and ‘party based democracy’ have to be rethought. We are entering a period of fast politics, evanescent politics, a politics of the street, of the squares, of micro-parties, pop-up parties, and demonstrations. This may well be the end of representative politics as we know it, but an exciting new era of political engagement is just beginning.

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 : Larry Diamond
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 1421418185
Total Pages : 140 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Democracy in Decline? written by Larry Diamond and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2015-10 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Is Democracy in Decline? is a short book that takes up the fascinating question on whether this once-revolutionary form of government--the bedrock of Western liberalism--is fast disappearing. Has the growth of corporate capitalism, mass economic inequality, and endemic corruption reversed the spread of democracy worldwide? In this incisive collection, leading thinkers address this disturbing and critically important issue. Published as part of the National Endowment for Democracy's 25th anniversary--and drawn from articles forthcoming in the Journal of Democracy--this collection includes seven essays from a stellar group of democracy scholars: Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kagan, Thomas Carothers, Marc Plattner, Larry Diamond, Philippe Schmitter, Steven Levitsky, Ivan Krastev, and Lucan Way. Written in a thought-provoking style from seven different perspectives, this book provides an eye-opening look at how the very foundation of Western political culture may be imperiled"--

Author : Senator Mike Gravel
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 1728339308
Total Pages : 115 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Failure of Representative Government and the Solution written by Senator Mike Gravel and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The universal form of governance where citizens vote to empower their elected officials to represent their interests is simply representative government –– not a democracy where people would rule directly. Accepting this definitional distinction improves our understanding that bringing the people into the operations of government as deliberative lawmakers –– deliberative direct democracy –– is the answer to dysfunctional representative government. However, empowering the people as deliberative lawmakers is anathema to the selfish interests of elites whose power to control society would be greatly diminished. Consequently, we stay mired in systems of government that do not work.

Author : Walter Williams
Publisher : Georgetown University Press
ISBN 13 : 9781589014039
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Reaganism and the Death of Representative Democracy written by Walter Williams and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2003-08-18 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a reasoned but passionate look at how Reaganism—the political philosophy of Ronald Reagan—has severely damaged representative democracy as created by the nation's founders. According to Williams, Reagan and his foremost disciple George W. Bush have created a plutocracy where the United States is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people but is ruled by the wealthiest individuals and corporate America. Refreshingly unafraid to point out that Reaganism's anti-government fundamentalism stands on feet of clay, Walter Williams asks that Americans move from their political apathy to pay attention to the politicians and the corporations lurking behind the power curtain to see the dangers they represent to the true essential of the American way of life. Williams' most important contribution is his extended analysis of the central role the key institutions—the presidency, Congress, the federal agencies—must play for the U.S. government to be capable in both sustaining representative democracy and protecting the safety and economic security of the American people. A clear result of the weakened institutions has been the grossly inadequate homeland security effort following September 11, and the massive corporate fraud revealed by Enron and other large firms that robbed the nation of hundreds of billions of dollars in stock values and depleted the pension savings of millions of people. The initial destructive blow that damaged the institutions of governance can be traced to Ronald Reagan and his simplistic antigovernment philosophy that fostered rapacious business practices and personal greed. The book also takes the media to task, criticizing the dismal record of failing to investigate the political and corporate chicanery that has brought us to this pass. Keenly argued and scrupulously documented, Walter Williams has written a stinging wake-up call to the dangers of the demise of representative democracy and the rise of plutocracy that American citizens can ignore only at their peril.