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Author : Frank Hendriks
Release : 2010-04-08
Genre : Philosophy
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 78X/5 ( reviews)
Book Synopsis Vital Democracy by : Frank Hendriks
Download or read book Vital Democracy written by Frank Hendriks. This book was released on 2010-04-08. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vital Democracy outlines an innovative new theory of democracy in action.
Author : Frank Hendriks
Release : 2010-04-08
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 394/5 ( reviews)
Book Synopsis Vital Democracy by : Frank Hendriks
Download or read book Vital Democracy written by Frank Hendriks. This book was released on 2010-04-08. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vital Democracy outlines a theory of democracy in action, based on four elementary forms of democracy - pendulum, consensus, voter and participatory democracy - that are thoroughly analysed, compared and related to both the literature and the real world of democracy. Just like a few primary colours produce an array of shades, a few basic models of democracy appear, the author argues, to constitute a wide range of democratic variants in real life. Focusing on tried and tested democratic institutions, Frank Hendriks shows that the four models of democracy - with their divergent patterns of leadership, citizenship and governance, their inherent strengths and weaknesses - are never purely instantiated. He argues that wherever democracy is practiced with some level of success, it is always as hybrid democracy, thereby challenging those democratic reformers and theorists that have inspired the quest for democratic purity. Vital Democracy builds on Arend Lijphart's well-known work which distinguishes between majoritarian and consensual democratic countries but also goes well beyond it, urging attention to non-national, non-formal, and non-representative expressions of democracy as well.
Author : Elizabeth Rusch
Release : 2020
Genre : Young Adult Nonfiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 921/5 ( reviews)
Book Synopsis You Call This Democracy? by : Elizabeth Rusch
Download or read book You Call This Democracy? written by Elizabeth Rusch. This book was released on 2020. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America is the greatest democracy in the world . . . isn't it? Author Elizabeth Rusch examines some of the more problematic aspects of our government but, more importantly, offers ways for young people to fix them. The political landscape has never been so tumultuous: issues with the electoral college, gerrymandering, voter suppression, and a lack of representation in the polls and in our leadership have led to Americans of all ages asking, How did we get here? The power to change lies with the citizens of this great country--especially teens Rather than pointing fingers at people and political parties, You Call This Democracy? looks at flaws in the system--and offers a real way out of the mess we are in. Each chapter breaks down a different problem plaguing American democracy, exploring how it's undemocratic, offering possible solutions (with examples of real-life teens who have already started working toward them), and suggesting ways to effect change--starting NOW
Author : Christopher H. Achen
Release : 2017-08-29
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 743/5 ( reviews)
Book Synopsis Democracy for Realists by : Christopher H. Achen
Download or read book Democracy for Realists written by Christopher H. Achen. This book was released on 2017-08-29. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Author : Martha C. Nussbaum
Release : 2016-11-08
Genre : Education
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 32X/5 ( reviews)
Book Synopsis Not for Profit by : Martha C. Nussbaum
Download or read book Not for Profit written by Martha C. Nussbaum. This book was released on 2016-11-08. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this short and powerful book, celebrated philosopher Martha Nussbaum makes a passionate case for the importance of the liberal arts at all levels of education. Historically, the humanities have been central to education because they have been seen as essential for creating competent democratic citizens. But recently, Nussbaum argues, thinking about the aims of education has gone disturbingly awry in the United States and abroad. We increasingly treat education as though its primary goal were to teach students to be economically productive rather than to think critically and become knowledgeable, productive, and empathetic individuals. This shortsighted focus on profitable skills has eroded our ability to criticize authority, reduced our sympathy with the marginalized and different, and damaged our competence to deal with complex global problems. And the loss of these basic capacities jeopardizes the health of democracies and the hope of a decent world. In response to this dire situation, Nussbaum argues that we must resist efforts to reduce education to a tool of the gross national product. Rather, we must work to reconnect education to the humanities in order to give students the capacity to be true democratic citizens of their countries and the world. In a new preface, Nussbaum explores the current state of humanistic education globally and shows why the crisis of the humanities has far from abated. Translated into over twenty languages, Not for Profit draws on the stories of troubling—and hopeful—global educational developments. Nussbaum offers a manifesto that should be a rallying cry for anyone who cares about the deepest purposes of education.
