Democracy Transformed? Expanding Political Opportunities in Advanced Industrial Democracies

by Cain, Bruce E.; Dalton, Russell J.; Scarrow, Susan E.

• ISBN13: 9780199291649
• ISBN10: 0199291640
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The popular pressures for reforms of the democratic process have mounted across the OECD nations over the past generation. In response, democratic institutions are changing, evolving, and expanding in ways that may alter the structure of the democratic process. These changes include reforms of the electoral process, the expansion of referendums, introduction of open government provisions, and more access points for direct political involvement. Indeed, some observers claim that we are witnessing the most fundamental transformation of the democratic process since the creation of mass democracy in the early 20th Century. This international team of distinguished scholars assembles the evidence of how democratic institutions and processes are changing, and considers the larger implications of these reforms for the nature of democracy. The findings points to a new style of democratic politics that expands the nature of democracy, but also carries challenges for democracies to include all its citizens and govern effectively in an environment of complex government.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	xi
List of Tables	xii
Notes on Contributors	xiv
Foreword	xvii
Austin Ranney
New Forms of Democracy? Reform and Transformation of Democratic Institutions	1	(22)
Russell J. Dalton
Susan E. Scarrow
Bruce E. Cain
I. Electoral Change
Expanding the Electoral Marketplace	23	(21)
Russell J. Dalton
Mark Gray
Making Elections More Direct? Reducing the Role of Parties in Elections	44	(15)
Susan E. Scarrow
Political Parties and the Rhetoric and Realities of Democratization	59	(22)
Miki Caul Kittilson
Susan E. Scarrow
Changing Party Access to Elections	81	(34)
Shaun Bowler
Elisabeth Carter
David M. Farrell
II. Change in Non-electoral Institutions
Towards More Open Democracies: The Expansion of Freedom of Information Laws	115	(25)
Bruce E. Cain
Patrick Egan
Sergio Fabbrini
Trends in Decentralization	140	(24)
Christopher Ansell
Jane Gingrich
Reforming the Administrative State	164	(28)
Christopher Ansell
Jane Gingrich
Participation, Representative Democracy, and the Courts	192	(31)
Rachel A. Cichowski
Alec Stone Sweet
III. The Consequences of Political Reform
A Second Transformation of Democracy?	223	(27)
Mark E. Warren
Democratic Publics and Democratic Institutions	250	(26)
Russell J. Dalton
Bruce E. Cain
Susan E. Scarrow
References	276	(29)
Index	305