Download or read book Direct Democracy s Impact on American Political Institutions written by Shaun Bowler and published by Palgrave MacMillan. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume a series of contributions look at the impact of direct democracy on those processes of representative democracy to raise – and answer – the question: Does direct democracy harm representative democracy?
Download or read book Educated by Initiative written by Daniel A. Smith and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2009-11-12 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This body of research not only passes academic muster but is the best guidepost in existence for activists who are trying to use the ballot initiative process for larger policy and political objectives." --Kristina Wilfore, Executive Director, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and Foundation Educated by Initiative moves beyond previous evaluations of public policy to emphasize the educational importance of the initiative process itself. Since a majority of ballots ultimately fail or get overturned by the courts, Smith and Tolbert suggest that the educational consequences of initiative voting may be more important than the outcomes of the ballots themselves. The result is a fascinating and thoroughly-researched book about how direct democracy teaches citizens about politics, voting, civic engagement and the influence of special interests and political parties. Designed to be accessible to anyone interested in the future of American democracy, the book includes boxes (titled "What Matters") that succinctly summarize the authors' data into easily readable analyses. Daniel A. Smith is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. Caroline J. Tolbert is Associate Professor of Political Science at Kent State University.
Download or read book Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy written by David Altman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers a comparative study of the origins, performance, and reform of contemporary mechanisms of direct democracy.
Download or read book Direct Democracy Worldwide written by David Altman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-12-20 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenging the common assumption that models of direct democracy and representative democracy are necessarily at odds, Direct Democracy Worldwide demonstrates how practices of direct and representative democracy interact under different institutional settings and uncovers the conditions that allow them to coexist in a mutually reinforcing manner. Whereas citizen-initiated mechanisms of direct democracy can spur productive relationships between citizens and political parties, other mechanisms of direct democracy often help leaders bypass other representative institutions, undermining republican checks and balances. The book also demonstrates that the embrace of direct democracy is costly, may generate uncertainties and inconsistencies, and can be manipulated. Nonetheless, the promise of direct democracy should not be dismissed. Direct democracy is much more than a simple, pragmatic second choice when representative democracy seems not to be working as expected. Properly designed, it can empower citizens, breaking through some of the institutionalized barriers to accountability that arise in representative systems.
Download or read book Prospects for Democracy written by David Held and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers a comprehensive overview of current debates about democracy across the globe. Since the political turmoil in Eastern Europe began in the 1980s, the debate about the meaning and future of democracy has intensified. Prospects for Democracy assesses this debate through wide-ranging theoretical considerations and a diverse set of case studies. The volume begins with a major overview of the concept of democracy from ancient city states to contemporary discussion about the possibility of international democracy. In the next section a series of contemporary models of democracy are examined and their strengths and limits explored. The third section confronts a wide variety of questions about the proper form and scope of democratic politics. In the final part, the context and prospects of democracy are investigated across many of the world's major regions including Western and Eastern Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. This volume will be widely welcomed by all those, academics and non-academics alike, who have an interest in the meaning and future of democracy as we approach the 21st century.
Download or read book The Politics of Direct Democracy written by Lawrence LeDuc and published by Peterborough, Ont. : Broadview Press. This book was released on 2003-09 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book aims to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date survey of direct democratic institutions and devices as they have developed both in the thinking of modern political theorists and in actual political practice in the world's major democratic nations.
Download or read book Swiss Democracy written by Wolf Linder and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An updated third edition of this authoriative analysis of Swiss democracy, the institutions of federalism, and consensus democracy through political power sharing. Linder analyses the scope and limits of citizen's participation in direct democracy, which distinguishes Switzerland from most parliamentary systems.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Political Representation in Liberal Democracies written by Robert Rohrschneider and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 731 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "How can democracies effectively represent citizens? The goal of this Handbook is to evaluate comprehensively how well the interests and preferences of mass publics become represented by institutions in liberal democracies. It first explores how the idea and institutions of liberal democracies were formed over centuries and became enshrined in Western political systems. The contributors to this Handbook, made up of the world's leading scholars on the various aspects of political representation, examine how well the political elites and parties who are charged with the representation of the public interest meet their duties. Clearly, institutions often fail to live up to their own representation goals. With this in mind, the contributors explore several challenges to the way that the system of representation is organized in modern democracies. For example, actors such as parties and established elites face rising distrust among electorates. Also, the rise of international problems such as migration and environmentalism suggests that the focus of democracies on nation states may have to shift to a more international level. All told, this Handbook illuminates the normative and functional challenges faced by representative institutions in liberal democracies"--
Download or read book The Politics Industry written by Katherine M. Gehl and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.
Download or read book American Government 3e written by Glen Krutz and published by . This book was released on 2023-05-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black & white print. American Government 3e aligns with the topics and objectives of many government courses. Faculty involved in the project have endeavored to make government workings, issues, debates, and impacts meaningful and memorable to students while maintaining the conceptual coverage and rigor inherent in the subject. With this objective in mind, the content of this textbook has been developed and arranged to provide a logical progression from the fundamental principles of institutional design at the founding, to avenues of political participation, to thorough coverage of the political structures that constitute American government. The book builds upon what students have already learned and emphasizes connections between topics as well as between theory and applications. The goal of each section is to enable students not just to recognize concepts, but to work with them in ways that will be useful in later courses, future careers, and as engaged citizens. In order to help students understand the ways that government, society, and individuals interconnect, the revision includes more examples and details regarding the lived experiences of diverse groups and communities within the United States. The authors and reviewers sought to strike a balance between confronting the negative and harmful elements of American government, history, and current events, while demonstrating progress in overcoming them. In doing so, the approach seeks to provide instructors with ample opportunities to open discussions, extend and update concepts, and drive deeper engagement.
Download or read book Direct Democracy s Impact on American Political Institutions written by S. Bowler and published by Springer. This book was released on 2008-04-28 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume a series of contributions look at the impact of direct democracy on those processes of representative democracy to raise – and answer – the question: Does direct democracy harm representative democracy?
Download or read book A Comparative Study of Referendums written by Mads Qvortrup and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2005-10-07 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining an account of the political history and philosophy of the referendum, with a thorough assessment of the practical experiences with referendums in western democracies, this book has established itself as the unrivalled market-leader in the field. Fully revised and with new chapters on campaign spending and the administration of referendums, the second edition of this book provides a thorough overview of the theory and practice of referendums.
Download or read book America s Supreme Court written by Stephen Breyer and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2010-12-09 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Published in the US under the title Making our democracy work"--T.p. verso.
Download or read book Citizens as Legislators written by Shaun Bowler and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early in the twentieth century, many American states began experimenting with direct democracy. Direct democracy-primarily the initiative device-allows groups to place directly before voters laws affecting taxation, spending, term limits, school choice, gay rights, immigration, and numerous other state issues. Ballot initiatives were expected to allow citizens the option of getting around legislators, who were seen as beholden to wealthy interests; early defenders of the process argued it would make state politics more responsive to the public will, and more responsible. Citizens as Legislators examines direct democracy in America at the end of the twentieth century to see if it has lived up to these expectations. The twelve contributors to this volume use the American experience with direct democracy to investigate some fundamental questions of politics: Can modern democracy have direct citizen participation in legislation? What are the consequences of more (or less) direct citizen access to government? The authors look at the context of the initiative campaigns and detail the rise of the modern initiative campaign industry. They examine how campaigns affect voters and how voters deal with the array of decisions they face in direct democracy states. They go on to explain why certain policy outcomes are different in direct democracy states. Shaun Bowler is a professor of political science at the University of California, Riverside. Todd Donovan is a professor of Political Science at Western Washington University. He and Shaun Bowler are coauthors of Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy. Caroline J. Tolbert is an assistant professor of political science at Kent State University.
Download or read book The Federalist Papers written by Alexander Hamilton and published by Read Books Ltd. This book was released on 2018-08-20 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classic Books Library presents this brand new edition of “The Federalist Papers”, a collection of separate essays and articles compiled in 1788 by Alexander Hamilton. Following the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, the governing doctrines and policies of the States lacked cohesion. “The Federalist”, as it was previously known, was constructed by American statesman Alexander Hamilton, and was intended to catalyse the ratification of the United States Constitution. Hamilton recruited fellow statesmen James Madison Jr., and John Jay to write papers for the compendium, and the three are known as some of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Alexander Hamilton (c. 1755–1804) was an American lawyer, journalist and highly influential government official. He also served as a Senior Officer in the Army between 1799-1800 and founded the Federalist Party, the system that governed the nation’s finances. His contributions to the Constitution and leadership made a significant and lasting impact on the early development of the nation of the United States.
Download or read book Machine That Would Go of Itself written by Michael G. Kammen and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Stealth Democracy written by John R. Hibbing and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-08-29 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans often complain about the operation of their government, but scholars have never developed a complete picture of people's preferred type of government. In this provocative and timely book, Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, employing an original national survey and focus groups, report the governmental procedures Americans desire. Contrary to the prevailing view that people want greater involvement in politics, most citizens do not care about most policies and therefore are content to turn over decision-making authority to someone else. People's wish for the political system is that decision makers be empathetic and, especially, non-self-interested, not that they be responsive and accountable to the people's largely nonexistent policy preferences or, even worse, that the people be obligated to participate directly in decision making. Hibbing and Theiss-Morse conclude by cautioning communitarians, direct democrats, social capitalists, deliberation theorists, and all those who think that greater citizen involvement is the solution to society's problems.
