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I. Machine politics.--II. Organized democracy.--III. The cost of machine politics.--IV. The necessity of reorganization.--V. General considerations. ; Mode of access: Internet.

"For years, intellectuals have argued that, with the triumph of capitalist, liberal democracy, the Western World has reached "the end of history." Recently, however, there has been a rise of authoritarian politics in many countries. Concepts of post-democracy, anti-politics, and the like are gaining currency in theoretical and political debate. Now that capitalist democracies are facing seismic and systemic challenges, it becomes increasingly important to investigate not only the inherent antagonism between liberalism and the democratic process, but also socialism. Is socialism an enemy of democracy? Could socialism develop, expand, even enhance democracy?While this volume seeks a reappraisal of existing liberal democracy today, its main goal is to help lay the foundation for new visions and practices in developing a real socialist democracy. Amid the contradictions of neoliberal capitalism today, the responsibility to sort out the relationship between socialism and democracy has never been greater. No revival of socialist politics in the twenty-first century can occur without founding new democratic institutions and practices."--Publisher's description

Der Autor erörtert in seinem Vortrag auf dem Hintergrund seiner Erfahrungen in der Schweiz die Möglichkeiten der direkten Demokratie in Deutschland. Er betont, dass angesichts des modernen Entwicklungsstandes der Rechtsvergleichung und der vergleichenden Rechtspolitik nicht das jeweilige Land mit seinen Besonderheiten, sondern ihr verallgemeinerungsfähiges Gestaltungspotential im Mittelpunkt des Interesses stehen sollte. Im ersten Teil seiner Ausführungen zeigt er die Unterschiede zwischen direkter und repräsentativer Demokratie sowie die hauptsächlichen Rechtfertigungsgründe der direkten Demokratie auf, die in der Bekämpfung autokratischer Willkür, einer sachlich-gemeinwohlorientierten Beurteilung, der politischen Freiheit und der Relativität dieser Rechtfertigungen bestehen. Der zweite Teil hat die bisherigen Entwicklungen in Deutschland im Allgemeinen und den Gesetzesentwurf von SPD und Bündnis 90/Die Grünen im Besonderen zum Inhalt. Im dritten Teil diskutiert der Autor die Perspektiven der direkten Demokratie, die sich z.B. auf den Wandel zur Bildungs- und Informationsgesellschaft, die erzieherisch-integrierende Wirkung, die Qualität der Deliberationsprozesse und finanzwirtschaftliche Vorzüge beziehen.

Explores evolution of democracy, arguing that the "court tradition" has been exhausted, and that the choice is now between a reinvented republicanism and a bland, almost narcotic populism. Democratization, modernization, Prime Minister Thatcher's conservative revolution, and Blair's "New Labour" revolution.

This book is a collection of contributions by leading scholars on theoretical and contemporary problems of militant democracy. The term 'militant democracy' was first coined in 1937. In a militant democracy preventive measures are aimed, at least in practice, at restricting people who would openly contest and challenge democratic institutions and fundamental preconditions of democracy like secularism - even though such persons act within the existing limits of, and rely on the rights offered by, democracy. In the shadow of the current wars on terrorism, which can also involve rights restrictio

Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ; Belief systems after converse / Donald R. Kinder -- Democracy with attitudes / Larry M. Bartels -- The political psychology of party identification / Herbert F. Weisberg and Steve H. Greene -- Process matters: cognitive models of candidate evaluation / Marco Steenbergen and Milton Lodge -- Policy issues and electoral democracy / Stuart Elaine Macdonald, Geroge Rabinowitz and Holly Brasher -- Elections and the dynamics of ideological representation / Michael B. MacKuen . [et al.] -- The heavenly public: what would a fully informed citizenry be like? / Robert C. Luskin -- The nature of belief in a mass public / Michael W. Traugot --- Electoral democracy during policts as usual, and unusual / John Aldrich -- Coming to grips with V.O. Key's concept of latent opinion / John Zaller. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Cover -- Contents -- List of Boxes, Figures and Tables -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Why 'saving' democracy? -- 2 Can democracy be saved? -- Part 1: Interventions at the input stage to enable critical citizenship -- 3 Building participatory governance systems -- 4 Direct democracy -- 5 Deliberative democracy -- 6 Design-led digital democracy -- Part 2: Interventions at the throughput stage to improve the quality andintegrity of politics -- 7 Reforming elected assemblies -- 8 Cleaning up politics -- 9 Embedding experts and evidence in democratic governance -- 10 Old and new media: power with responsibility -- Part 3: Interventions at the output stage to improve the capacity ofpolitics to deliver quality services and policy outcomes -- 11 Improving the public service experience: the search for public value -- 12 Representative democracy and crisis management -- 13 Future proofing democracy -- 14 In conclusion - restoring and strengthening the 'protective power'of democracy -- Postscript -- Notes -- Index.

This second, revised edition presents a broader discussion of Schumpeter's and other leadership models of democracy and also includes a new chapter on presidential leadership and foreign policy. The first part of the book is centred around Schumpeter's theories and his emphasis upon the role of leadership in democracy. Such leadership normally involves only an adaptive, incremental response to change but it can also take the form of an adaptive innovation, a creative response, or a pioneering leader's entrepreneurial-style initiative and innovation. The second part of the book uses the US and British examples of democracy to assess how much entrepreneurial-style, pioneering leadership occurred during the 1960s-90s in democracies' electoral, governmental, legislative, administrative, and policy-advocacy sectors. The second edition's conclusion offers a new appraisal of the prospects for this pioneering leadership, and the merely adaptive form of innovative leadership, in the decades and crises that lie ahead.

Advocates a broad-based reconstruction of public culture & citizen ownership of government based on the commonwealth tradition. The US history of the tradition, which stresses inclusion through civic production & socioeconomic equality sufficient to permit democracy, is sketched. Causes for the decline of civic engagement are identified: postwar emphasis on citizens as consumers rather than as producers; work specialization; an increasingly economic definition of wealth; cynical politics; & alienation from government. An example of community organizing in Seattle, WA, 1920s-1960s, illustrates the strength of the commonwealth idea, & possibilities for the contemporary revival of public work are considered. Unlike progressive & communitarian versions of citizenship, the commonwealth idea views governance as something done by citizens but does so without neglecting the reality of power structures/relations. E. Blackwell

The author responds to Don Herzog's (2010) review of a series of his books concerning democracy and political theory. The author accuses Herzog of misunderstanding one of his major points, that democracy is a blend of political ideas, institutions and practices in a proliferating variety of historical settings. The article criticizes Herzog for finding fault with the author's methodology without suggesting a better approach to tackling the subject. The author defends his comparisons of the structures of Athenian democracy with those of modern democracies. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]

Two previous articles by N. Bobbio ('Is There a Marxist Theory of the State?' & 'Are There Alternatives to Representative Democracy?' Telos, 1978, 35, spring, 5-30) have aroused extensive debate focused primarily on whether there are alternatives to representative democracy. The relation of socialism to democracy has been a central problem of the left for many years, & has lately become a political problem, the heirs of social democracy showing little trace of socialism & the heirs of Leninism equally little trace of democracy. What is now needed is a definition of democracy in which decisions of interest to a collectivity are made by all members. This leads to need for specific procedures for realizing the collectivity's will. It should not be taken for granted that democracy is better than autocracy; three main grounds, however, can be offered for its preference-it gives liberty to the individual as an ethical being, it offers correction for the abuse of power, & it relies on the judgment of those whose interests are most affected. These arguments all become even stronger in a socialist society. It is not clear, however, that a socialist society can be democratic; one should be cautious, given the tendency of both capitalist & socialist societies to have economic decisions made autocratically. W. H. Stoddard.

The delinking of issues of redistribution from the current wave of democratization is truly remarkable. In the nineteenth century, democracy meant replacing the representation of property by the representation of the people and meant related developments

The delinking of issues of redistribution from the current wave of democratization is truly remarkable. In the nineteenth century, democracy meant replacing the representation of property by the representation of the people and meant related developments