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.
Responsive Democracy
Responsive 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 Responsive Democracy write by Jeeyang Rhee Baum. This book was released on 2011-02-10. Responsive Democracy available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. "Responsive Democracy is a pioneering contribution to the political analysis of administrative law in East Asia. Both political scientists and legal academics will greatly benefit from the author's in-depth analysis of the intersection between presidential power and administrative law in the contrasting cases of South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines." ---Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale University Law School "Baum's book is a very significant contribution because it focuses on a part of the world that has often been neglected in studies of democratization. It focuses attention on the nuts and bolts of what we mean by democratic consolidation and responsiveness. Indeed, if more political science were written with this clarity, we would all enjoy reading the literature much more!" ---Joseph Fewsmith, Boston University Under what conditions is a newly democratic government likely to increase transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to its citizens? What incentives might there be for bureaucrats, including those appointed by a previously authoritarian government, to carry out the wishes of an emerging democratic regime? Responsive Democracy addresses an important problem in democratic transition and consolidation: the ability of the chief executive to control the state bureaucracy. Using three well-chosen case studies---the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan---Jeeyang Rhee Baum explores the causes and consequences of codifying rules and procedures in a newly democratic government. In the Philippines, a president facing opposition has the option of appointing and dismissing officials at will and, therefore, has no need for administrative procedure acts. However, in South Korea and Taiwan, presidents employ such legislation to rein in recalcitrant government agencies, and, as a consequence, increase transparency, accountability, and responsiveness. Moreover, as Baum demonstrates by drawing upon surveys conducted both before and after implementation, administrative procedural reforms in South Korea and Taiwan improved public confidence in and attitudes toward democratic institutions. Jeeyang Rhee Baum is a Research Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
The Sources of Democratic Responsiveness in Mexico
The Sources of Democratic Responsiveness in Mexico - 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 The Sources of Democratic Responsiveness in Mexico write by Matthew R. Cleary. This book was released on 2010. The Sources of Democratic Responsiveness in Mexico available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. What good are elections in Mexico? -- Elections and democratic responsiveness -- Political participation and democratic responsiveness -- Testing hypotheses about responsiveness : the public services approach -- Testing hypotheses about responsiveness : the public finance approach -- Electoral and participatory mechanisms in action -- Conclusion: The sources of democratic responsiveness in Mexico -- Appendix: Fractionalization indices as measures of electoral competitiveness.
Democracy for Realists
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.
The Government We Deserve
The Government We Deserve - 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 The Government We Deserve write by C. Eugene Steuerle. This book was released on 1998. The Government We Deserve available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Takes a visionary look at what it will take to create a constructive national dialog on political choices that the next decade will bring. Explores a sweeping range of concerns and describes eight proposals that would return ownership of the government to the American majority, with chapters on the government's changing capacity to respond, the changing political process, the role of the public sector, and the changing shape of US federalism. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
