Domestic Perspectives on Contemporary Democracy

by Nardulli, Peter F.

• ISBN13: 9780252033193
• ISBN10: 0252033191
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-04-17
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

In looking at the remarkable proliferation of democracies since 1974, this volume offers important insight into the challenges and opportunities that democracy faces in the twenty-first century. Distinguished contributors detail difficulties that democracies face from within and how they deal with them. Among the contemporary threats to democracy emanating from internal sources are tensions arising over technology and its uses; ethnic, religious, and racial distinctions; and disparate access to resources, education, and employment. A democratically elected government can behave more or less democratically, even when controlling access to information, using legal authority to aid or intimidate, and applying resources to shape the conditions for the next election. With elections recently disputed in the United States, Mexico, Lebanon, and the Ukraine, debates about the future of democracy are inescapably debates about what kind of democracy is desired.Contributors are W. Lance Bennett, Bruce Bimber, Jon Fraenkel, Brian J. Gaines, Bernard Grofman, Wayne V. McIntosh, Peter F. Nardulli, Mark Q. Sawyer, Stephen Simon, Paul M. Sniderman, and Jack Snyder.

Author Biography

Peter F. Nardulli is a professor of political science, holds an appointment in the College of Law, and is the founding director of the Cline Center for Democracy at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is the author or editor of many books, including Popular Efficacy in the Democratic Era: A Reexamination of Electoral Accountability in the United States, 1828-2000.

Table of Contents

Democracy Challenged: Demography, Technology, and Democratic Possibilities	p. 1
Social Heterogeneity and Democracy: Challenges and Opportunities
Problems of Democratic Transition in Divided Societies	p. 11
Citizens, Identities, and Democratic Dialogues: Opportunities and Challenges of Diverse Societies	p. 33
Democracy, Diversity, and Leadership	p. 51
Electoral Engineering, Social Cleavages, and Democracy	p. 71
Technology and Democracy: Mass-Elite Linkages in the Twenty-first Century
Technological Advances and Individual Liberties: Privacy and the Reach of the State in the Twenty-first Century	p. 105
Engineering Consent: The Persistence of a Problematic Communication Regime	p. 131
The Internet and Political Fragmentation	p. 155
Contributors	p. 171
Index	p. 175
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