1 option
Democracy more or less : America's political reform quandary / Bruce E. Cain, Stanford University.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Cain, Bruce E., author.
- Series:
- Cambridge studies in election law and democracy
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Democracy--United States.
- Democracy.
- Polarization (Social sciences).
- United States.
- Representative government and representation--United States.
- Representative government and representation.
- Political culture--United States.
- Political culture.
- Political participation--United States.
- Political participation.
- Polarization (Social sciences)--United States.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (ix, 125 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
- Place of Publication:
- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2014.
- System Details:
- text file
- Summary:
- Why do American political reform efforts so often fail to solve the problems they intend to fix? In this book, Bruce E. Cain argues that the reasons are an unrealistic civic ideal of a fully informed and engaged citizenry and a neglect of basic pluralist principles about political intermediaries. This book traces the tension between populist and pluralist approaches as it plays out in many seemingly distinct reform topics, such as voting administration, campaign finance, excessive partisanship, redistricting, and transparency and voter participation. It explains why political primaries have promoted partisan polarization, why voting rates are declining even as election opportunities increase, and why direct democracy is not really a grassroots tool. Cain offers a reform agenda that attempts to reconcile pluralist ideals with the realities of collective-action problems and resource disparities.
- Contents:
- 1. The ascendancy of reform populism
- 2. Reform pluralism
- 3. How much transparency?
- 4. Participation paradoxes
- 5. Reform cycles
- 6. Fair representation
- 7. Raising the political ethics bar
- 8. Election administration or policy?
- 9. A blended reform agenda.
- Notes:
- Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
- Other Format:
- Print version:
- ISBN:
- 9781139600545
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license.
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.