Democracy at Risk How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation, and What We Can Do About It

by Macedo, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780815754046
• ISBN10: 0815754043
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-08-26
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

"This important book explores the problem of Americans' decreasing involvement in their own public affairs. It argues that we should not simply blame citizens for this sorry state. Much of the responsibility lies with our ill-designed political system, which tends to dampen involvement, sharpen participatory disparities between groups, and discourage serious attention to political campaigns and policy discussion."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Toward a Political Science of Citizenship	p. 1
What Is Civic Engagement?	p. 6
What Dimensions of Civic Engagement Should We Care About?	p. 8
Can Civic Engagement Be Bad?	p. 10
Our Report and the American Political Science Association	p. 16
Roadmap to What Follows	p. 18
Conclusion	p. 19
National Electoral Processes	p. 21
Basic Trends	p. 22
Diagnosing Our Civic Malaise	p. 30
Personal Factors	p. 32
Structural Factors	p. 41
Cultural Factors	p. 49
What Is to Be Done?	p. 52
Conclusion	p. 64
The American Metropolis	p. 67
The Promise and Perils of Local Politics	p. 68
Changing Patterns of Metropolitan Life	p. 73
Place, Context, and Civic Activity	p. 82
Engagement with Electoral Politics	p. 83
Political Engagement between Elections	p. 90
Community Engagement through Nongovernmental Institutions and Groups	p. 97
What Is to Be Done?	p. 104
Conclusion	p. 114
Associational Life and the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector	p. 117
Associations and Civic Engagement	p. 119
Two Positive Trends: Volunteering and Growth of the Nonprofit Sector	p. 122
How Policy Creates and Regulates Nonprofits	p. 128
Reshaping the Civic Context for Associations	p. 131
What Is to Be Done?	p. 148
Conclusion	p. 152
Conclusion: Assessing Our Political Science of Citizenship	p. 155
America's Democratic Deficit	p. 156
Our Agenda for Reform	p. 159
Pitfalls of Our Political Science of Citizenship	p. 170
Conclusion	p. 177
Notes	p. 179
The Authors	p. 219
Index	p. 221
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