Download or read book Real Democracy written by Frank M. Bryan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-03-15 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Relying on an astounding collection of more than three decades of firsthand research, Frank M. Bryan examines one of the purest forms of American democracy, the New England town meeting. At these meetings, usually held once a year, all eligible citizens of the town may become legislators; they meet in face-to-face assemblies, debate the issues on the agenda, and vote on them. And although these meetings are natural laboratories for democracy, very few scholars have systematically investigated them. A nationally recognized expert on this topic, Bryan has now done just that. Studying 1,500 town meetings in his home state of Vermont, he and his students recorded a staggering amount of data about them—238,603 acts of participation by 63,140 citizens in 210 different towns. Drawing on this evidence as well as on evocative "witness" accounts—from casual observers to no lesser a light than Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn—Bryan paints a vivid picture of how real democracy works. Among the many fascinating questions he explores: why attendance varies sharply with town size, how citizens resolve conflicts in open forums, and how men and women behave differently in town meetings. In the end, Bryan interprets this brand of local government to find evidence for its considerable staying power as the most authentic and meaningful form of direct democracy. Giving us a rare glimpse into how democracy works in the real world, Bryan presents here an unorthodox and definitive book on this most cherished of American institutions.
Download or read book Town Hall Meetings and the Death of Deliberation written by Jonathan Beecher Field and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the erosion of democratic norms in the US and the conditions that make it possible Jonathan Beecher Field tracks the permutations of the town hall meeting from its original context as a form of democratic community governance in New England into a format for presidential debates and a staple of corporate governance. In its contemporary iteration, the town hall meeting models the aesthetic of the former but replaces actual democratic deliberation with a spectacle that involves no immediate electoral stakes or functions as a glorified press conference. Urgently, Field notes that though this evolution might be apparent, evidence suggests many US citizens don’t care to differentiate. Forerunners: Ideas First Short books of thought-in-process scholarship, where intense analysis, questioning, and speculation take the lead
Download or read book The New England Town Meeting written by Joseph F. Zimmerman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1999-03-30 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking study, Zimmerman explores the town meeting form of government in all New England states. This comprehensive work relies heavily upon surveys of town officers and citizens, interviews, and mastery of the scattered writing on the subject. Zimmerman finds that the stereotypes of the New England open town meeting advanced by its critics are a serious distortion of reality. He shows that voter superintendence of town affairs has proven to be effective, and there is no empirical evidence that thousands of small towns and cities with elected councils are governed better. Whereas the relatively small voter attendance suggests that interest groups can control town meetings, their influence has been offset effectively by the development of town advisory committees, particularly the finance committee and the planning board, which are effective counterbalances to pressure groups. Zimmerman provides a new conception of town meeting democracy, positing that the meeting is a de facto representative legislative body with two safety valves—open access to all voters and the initiative to add articles to the warrant, and the calling of special meetings to reconsider decisions made at the preceding town meeting. And, as Zimmerman points out, a third safety valve—the protest referendum—can be adopted by a town meeting.
Download or read book Suggested Rules of Procedure for a City Council written by Trey Allen and published by Local Government Board Builder. This book was released on 2017-05-24 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in its fourth edition, this book provides city councils with model procedural rules for their meetings. The model rules cover, among many other topics, the organizational meeting, pertinent requirements of the open meetings law, the role of the presiding officer, agenda preparation and approval, substantive and procedural motions, voting rules, ordinance adoption, public hearings, and public comment periods. Legal and practical issues are analyzed in the comments that follow each rule. The fourth edition differs from prior editions in important ways. It incorporates significant statutory changes that have occurred since a revised version of the third edition was published in 2007. Both the rules themselves and the comments have undergone extensive modifications in an effort to make the book even more useful to municipal governing boards. New appendixes include tables showing the numbers of members necessary to establish a quorum and the number of votes required to adopt an ordinance or approve a contract. This book is a must for council members, city managers and administrators, city clerks, and city attorneys. Anyone with a general interest in local government or parliamentary procedure will also want a copy. BONUS FEATURE: Upon purchasing this book, the buyer will receive an electronic version of the book's procedural rules that can be customized to fit a particular council's specific needs. See the Local Government Board Builders Series webpage for other books in the series and related School of Government publications (https: //www.sog.unc.edu/resource-series/local-government-board-builders-series-0).
Download or read book Global Trends 2040 written by National Intelligence Council and published by Cosimo Reports. This book was released on 2021-03 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.
Download or read book The Genesis of the Massachusetts Town and the Development of Town Meeting Government written by Charles Francis Adams and published by . This book was released on 1892 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Report of the Committee Appointed at a Public Town s Meeting of the Inhabitants of Manchester to Treat Conditionally with Sir Oswald Mosley for the Purchase of the Manor written by Manchester (England). Citizens and published by . This book was released on 1809 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Report of the Committee Appointed at a Public Town s Meeting of the Inhabitants of Manchester to Treat Conditionally with Sir Oswald Mosley for the Purchase of the Manor written by and published by . This book was released on 1809 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Town s Meeting A Report of the Proceedings of the Town s Meeting held on Newhall Hill Birmingham on Wednesday January 22 1817 written by and published by . This book was released on 1817 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Connecticut Town Meeting Records During the American Revolution written by Jolene Roberts Mullen and published by . This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Laws and Joint Resolutions Passed by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of Illinois Territory written by Illinois and published by . This book was released on 1853 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Legislation Relating to a Recodification and Revision of Town Laws written by Don Dyke and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wisconsin Town Laws 1921 with Forms written by Wisconsin and published by Legislative Reference Bureau. This book was released on 1921 with total page 932 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Statement of Disbursements of the House written by United States. Congress. House and published by . This book was released on 2002-04 with total page 1564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covers receipts and expenditures of appropriations and other funds.
Download or read book Laws of Wisconsin Concerning the Organization and Government of Towns written by Elijah Middlebrook Haines and published by . This book was released on 1858 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wisconsin Statutes 1959 written by Wisconsin and published by Legislative Reference Bureau. This book was released on 1959 with total page 2948 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Laws of the State of Illinois written by Illinois and published by . This book was released on 1872 with total page 928 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
