Download or read book The Democracy Fix written by Caroline Fredrickson and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2019-04-23 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The former special assistant for legislative affairs to President Clinton, president of the American Constitution Society, and author of the "damn fine" (Elle) Under the Bus shows how the left can undo the right's damage and take the country back Despite representing the beliefs of a minority of the American public on many issues, conservatives are in power not just in Washington, DC, but also in state capitals and courtrooms across the country. They got there because, while progressives fought to death over the nuances of policy and to bring attention to specific issues, conservatives focused on simply gaining power by gaming our democracy. They understood that policy follows power, not the other way around. Now, in a sensational new book, Caroline Fredrickson—who has had a front-row seat on the political drama in DC for decades while working to shape progressive policies as special assistant for legislative affairs to President Clinton, chief of staff to Senator Maria Cantwell, deputy chief of staff to Senator Tom Daschle, and president of the American Constitution Society—argues that it's time for progressives to focus on winning. She shows us how we can learn from the Right by having the determination to focus on judicial elections, state power, and voter laws without stooping to their dishonest, rule-breaking tactics. We must be ruthless in thinking through how to change the rules of the game to regain power, expand the franchise, end voter suppression, win judicial elections, and fight for transparency and fairness in our political system, and Fredrickson shows us how.
Download or read book Mathematics and Democracy written by Steven J. Brams and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-12-02 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Voters today often desert a preferred candidate for a more viable second choice to avoid wasting their vote. Likewise, parties to a dispute often find themselves unable to agree on a fair division of contested goods. In Mathematics and Democracy, Steven Brams, a leading authority in the use of mathematics to design decision-making processes, shows how social-choice and game theory could make political and social institutions more democratic. Using mathematical analysis, he develops rigorous new procedures that enable voters to better express themselves and that allow disputants to divide goods more fairly. One of the procedures that Brams proposes is "approval voting," which allows voters to vote for as many candidates as they like or consider acceptable. There is no ranking, and the candidate with the most votes wins. The voter no longer has to consider whether a vote for a preferred but less popular candidate might be wasted. In the same vein, Brams puts forward new, more equitable procedures for resolving disputes over divisible and indivisible goods.
Download or read book Against Democracy written by Jason Brennan and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bracingly provocative challenge to one of our most cherished ideas and institutions Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They believe people have the right to an equal share of political power. And they believe that political participation is good for us—it empowers us, helps us get what we want, and tends to make us smarter, more virtuous, and more caring for one another. These are some of our most cherished ideas about democracy. But Jason Brennan says they are all wrong. In this trenchant book, Brennan argues that democracy should be judged by its results—and the results are not good enough. Just as defendants have a right to a fair trial, citizens have a right to competent government. But democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, and it all too often falls short. Furthermore, no one has a fundamental right to any share of political power, and exercising political power does most of us little good. On the contrary, a wide range of social science research shows that political participation and democratic deliberation actually tend to make people worse—more irrational, biased, and mean. Given this grim picture, Brennan argues that a new system of government—epistocracy, the rule of the knowledgeable—may be better than democracy, and that it's time to experiment and find out. A challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable, Against Democracy is essential reading for scholars and students of politics across the disciplines. Featuring a new preface that situates the book within the current political climate and discusses other alternatives beyond epistocracy, Against Democracy is a challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable.
Download or read book Beyond Free and Fair written by Eric Bjornlund and published by Woodrow Wilson Center Press. This book was released on 2004-11-02 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book Is Democracy Fair written by Leslie Johnson Nielsen and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Making Democracy Fair The mathematics of voting and apportionment written by Michael de Villiers and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2012-09-23 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do you know if an election is fair? Or if the result truly represents the choice of the people? In Making Democracy Fair students use elementary mathematical methods to explore different kinds of ballots, election decision procedures, and apportionment methods. In the first half of the book, students are introduced to a variety of alternatives to the "winner take all" strategy used in most elections. Determining which strategy is fairest is usually a very difficult question to answer, and many times the strategy chosen determines the winner. In the second part of the book, students investigate different methods of apportionment. How many representatives from each state will there be in the United States House of Representatives? How do countries using a proportional representation decide on the number of representatives from each political party to be seated in their government bodies?
Download or read book Free and Fair Elections written by Guy S. Goodwin-Gill and published by Inter-Parliamentary Union. This book was released on 2006 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Against Elections written by David Van Reybrouck and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A small book with great weight and urgency to it, this is both a history of democracy and a clarion call for change. "Without drastic adjustment, this system cannot last much longer," writes Van Reybrouck, regarded today as one of Europe's most astute thinkers. "If you look at the decline in voter turnout and party membership, and at the way politicians are held in contempt, if you look at how difficult it is to form governments, how little they can do and how harshly they are punished for it, if you look at how quickly populism, technocracy and anti-parliamentarianism are rising, if you look at how more and more citizens are longing for participation and how quickly that desire can tip over into frustration, then you realize we are up to our necks." Not so very long ago, the great battles of democracy were fought for the right to vote. Now, Van Reybrouck writes, "it's all about the right to speak, but in essence it's the same battle, the battle for political emancipation and for democratic participation. We must decolonize democracy. We must democratize democracy." As history, Van Reybrouck makes the compelling argument that modern democracy was designed as much to preserve the rights of the powerful and keep the masses in line, as to give the populace a voice. As change-agent, Against Elections makes the argument that there are forms of government, what he terms sortitive or deliberative democracy, that are beginning to be practiced around the world, and can be the remedy we seek. In Iceland, for example, deliberative democracy was used to write the new constitution. A group of people were chosen by lot, educated in the subject at hand, and then were able to decide what was best, arguably, far better than politicians would have. A fascinating, and workable idea has led to a timely book to remind us that our system of government is a flexible instrument, one that the people have the power to change.
Download or read book Rich Media Poor Democracy written by Robert W. McChesney and published by New Press, The. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An updated edition of the “penetrating study” examining how the current state of mass media puts our democracy at risk (Noam Chomsky). What happens when a few conglomerates dominate all major aspects of mass media, from newspapers and magazines to radio and broadcast television? After all the hype about the democratizing power of the internet, is this new technology living up to its promise? Since the publication of this prescient work, which won Harvard’s Goldsmith Book Prize and the Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award, the concentration of media power and the resultant “hypercommercialization of media” has only intensified. Robert McChesney lays out his vision for what a truly democratic society might look like, offering compelling suggestions for how the media can be reformed as part of a broader program of democratic renewal. Rich Media, Poor Democracy remains as vital and insightful as ever and continues to serve as an important resource for researchers, students, and anyone who has a stake in the transformation of our digital commons. This new edition includes a major new preface by McChesney, where he offers both a history of the transformation in media since the book first appeared; a sweeping account of the organized efforts to reform the media system; and the ongoing threats to our democracy as journalism has continued its sharp decline. “Those who want to know about the relationship of media and democracy must read this book.” —Neil Postman “If Thomas Paine were around, he would have written this book.” —Bill Moyers
Download or read book Philippine Democracy Assessment written by Edna A. Co and published by Ateneo University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book critically examines two indicators of Philippine democracy, namely, elections and political parties. It looks closely at the democratic principles and values of participation, authorization, representation, accountability, transparency, responsiveness, and solidarity as these coalesce into the Philippine electoral institutions. The assessment powerfully scrutinizes these universal principles of democracy as they are embedded in a complex web of politics and culture, which makes reforms challenging indeed. Democrats and scholars of democracy will find this book worthwhile.
Download or read book Declaration on Criteria for Free and Fair Elections written by Michael D. Boda and published by Inter-Parliamentary Union. This book was released on 2005 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Freedom in the World 2018 written by Freedom House and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-01-31 with total page 1040 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Freedom in the World is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The methodology of this survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories.
Download or read book A Fair Electoral System written by Ryan George Saunders Peralto and published by Lmh Pub. This book was released on 2006-11-01 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most important things that citizens in democratic countries are asked to do as a part of their contribution to help preserve their democracy, is to vote to decide who from among them the majority wish to authorise to govern. Any country in which it is possible to exploit that process and deny persons of their Right to Vote, or allows persons other than the electors to cast their votes, puts the future of that democracy at serious risk. The author is satisfied that in many practising democracies, some persons, who are entitled to vote and try to exercise that right, are still being denied the opportunity to vote and have their votes counted to determine who is elected into government. The author has designed an automated electronic system that interacts directly with each person whose information is stored in its data base. This system can be used worldwide to address electoral problems but it can also be used for many other purposes to guarantee that only persons so authorised can carry out certain activities.
Download or read book Securing the Vote written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2018-09-30 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 2016 presidential election, America's election infrastructure was targeted by actors sponsored by the Russian government. Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy examines the challenges arising out of the 2016 federal election, assesses current technology and standards for voting, and recommends steps that the federal government, state and local governments, election administrators, and vendors of voting technology should take to improve the security of election infrastructure. In doing so, the report provides a vision of voting that is more secure, accessible, reliable, and verifiable.
Download or read book Four Threats written by Suzanne Mettler and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An urgent, historically-grounded take on the four major factors that undermine American democracy, and what we can do to address them. While many Americans despair of the current state of U.S. politics, most assume that our system of government and democracy itself are invulnerable to decay. Yet when we examine the past, we find that the United States has undergone repeated crises of democracy, from the earliest days of the republic to the present. In Four Threats, Suzanne Mettler and Robert C. Lieberman explore five moments in history when democracy in the U.S. was under siege: the 1790s, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Depression, and Watergate. These episodes risked profound—even fatal—damage to the American democratic experiment. From this history, four distinct characteristics of disruption emerge. Political polarization, racism and nativism, economic inequality, and excessive executive power—alone or in combination—have threatened the survival of the republic, but it has survived—so far. What is unique, and alarming, about the present moment in American politics is that all four conditions exist. This convergence marks the contemporary era as a grave moment for democracy. But history provides a valuable repository from which we can draw lessons about how democracy was eventually strengthened—or weakened—in the past. By revisiting how earlier generations of Americans faced threats to the principles enshrined in the Constitution, we can see the promise and the peril that have led us to today and chart a path toward repairing our civic fabric and renewing democracy.
Download or read book Free and Fair Elections written by N. C. Steytler and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Strengthening democracy written by Hayden Sir Phillips and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-03-15 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This review of the funding of political parties has eight principal recommendations: the status quo, with no caps on donations, is unsustainable therefore donations to parties should be limited; there should be measures to prevent breaches to the new regulations; expenditure in general election campaigns should be reduced; controls on expenditure by third parties should be strengthened; there may be an increase in public funding of political parties; this funding should be linked to a measure of public support and should encourage democratic engagement; the public should have better information on the funding of political parties; the Electoral Commission should have the necessary powers to regulate the new funding settlement.
