Democracy for Realists

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Release : 2017-08-29
Genre : Political Science
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Book Rating : 743/5 ( reviews)

Democracy for Realists - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Democracy for Realists write by Christopher H. Achen. This book was released on 2017-08-29. Democracy for Realists available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. 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.

Democracy for Realists

Download Democracy for Realists PDF Online Free

Author :
Release : 2017-08-29
Genre : Political Science
Kind :
Book Rating : 240/5 ( reviews)

Democracy for Realists - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Democracy for Realists write by Christopher H. Achen. This book was released on 2017-08-29. Democracy for Realists available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. 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.

Democracy for Realists

Download Democracy for Realists PDF Online Free

Author :
Release : 2016-04-19
Genre : Political Science
Kind :
Book Rating : 446/5 ( reviews)

Democracy for Realists - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Democracy for Realists write by Christopher H. Achen. This book was released on 2016-04-19. Democracy for Realists available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. 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. 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.

Realism and Democracy

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Release : 2017-09-12
Genre : Political Science
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Book Rating : 628/5 ( reviews)

Realism and Democracy - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Realism and Democracy write by Elliott Abrams. This book was released on 2017-09-12. Realism and Democracy available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. This book makes a realpolitik argument for supporting democracy in the Arab world, drawing on four decades of policy experience.

Politics Recovered

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Release : 2018-03-13
Genre : Political Science
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Book Rating : 552/5 ( reviews)

Politics Recovered - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Politics Recovered write by Matt Sleat. This book was released on 2018-03-13. Politics Recovered available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Is political theory political enough? Or does a tendency toward abstraction, idealization, moralism, and utopianism leave contemporary political theory out of touch with real politics as it actually takes place, and hence unable to speak meaningfully to or about our world? Realist political thought, which has enjoyed a significant revival of interest in recent years, seeks to avoid such pitfalls by remaining attentive to the distinctiveness of politics and the ways its realities ought to shape how we think and act in the political realm. Politics Recovered brings together prominent scholars to develop what it might mean to theorize politics “realistically.” Intervening in philosophical debates such as the relationship between politics and morality and the role that facts and emotions should play in the theorization of political values, the volume addresses how a realist approach aids our understanding of pressing issues such as global justice, inequality, poverty, political corruption, the value of democracy, governmental secrecy, and demands for transparency. Contributors open up fruitful dialogues with a variety of other realist approaches, such as feminist theory, democratic theory, and international relations. By exploring the nature and prospects of realist thought, Politics Recovered shows how political theory can affirm reality in order to provide meaningful and compelling answers to the fundamental questions of political life.