Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government

Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government PDF Author: Adam Przeworski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521140110
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Book Description
The book analyzes the sources of widespread dissatisfaction with democracies around the world and identifies directions for feasible reforms.

Democracy and the Market

Democracy and the Market PDF Author: Adam Przeworski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521423359
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Book Description
The quest for freedom from hunger and repression has triggered in recent years a dramatic, worldwide reform of political and economic systems. Never have so many people enjoyed, or at least experimented with democratic institutions. However, many strategies for economic development in Eastern Europe and Latin America have failed with the result that entire economic systems on both continents are being transformed. This major book analyzes recent transitions to democracy and market-oriented economic reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Drawing in a quite distinctive way on models derived from political philosophy, economics, and game theory, Professor Przeworski also considers specific data on individual countries. Among the questions raised by the book are: What should we expect from these experiments in democracy and market economy? What new economic systems will emerge? Will these transitions result in new democracies or old dictatorships?

Crises of Democracy

Crises of Democracy PDF Author: Adam Przeworski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108498809
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

Book Description
Examines the economic, social, cultural, as well as purely political threats to democracy in the light of current knowledge.

Militant Democracy

Militant Democracy PDF Author: András Sajó
Publisher: Eleven International Publishing
ISBN: 9077596046
Category : Civil rights
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Book Description
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 restrictions, the overlapping though distinct problem of militant democracy seems to be lost, notwithstanding its importance for emerging and established democracies. This volume will be of particular significance outside the German-speaking world, since the bulk of the relevant literature on militant democracy is in the German language. The book is of interest to academics in the field of law, political studies and constitutionalism.

States and Markets

States and Markets PDF Author: Adam Przeworski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521535243
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Book Description
The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to the concepts and tools for studying relations between states and markets. The focus is methodological. Both the economy and the state are analyzed as networks of relations between principals and agents, occupying particular places in the institutional structure.Having introduced the principal-agent framework, the book analyzes systematically the effect of the organization of the state on the functioning of the economy. The central question is under what conditions government will do what they should be doing and not do what they should not.

Democracy by the People

Democracy by the People PDF Author: Timothy K. Kuhner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107177634
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 505

Book Description
Introduces citizens to solutions for reforming the American campaign finance system.

How to Save a Constitutional Democracy

How to Save a Constitutional Democracy PDF Author: Tom Ginsburg
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022656438X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
Democracies are in danger. Around the world, a rising wave of populist leaders threatens to erode the core structures of democratic self-rule. In the United States, the tenure of Donald Trump has seemed decisive turning point for many. What kind of president intimidates jurors, calls the news media the “enemy of the American people,” and seeks foreign assistance investigating domestic political rivals? Whatever one thinks of President Trump, many think the Constitution will safeguard us from lasting damage. But is that assumption justified? How to Save a Constitutional Democracy mounts an urgent argument that we can no longer afford to be complacent. Drawing on a rich array of other countries’ experiences with democratic backsliding, Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Z. Huq show how constitutional rules can both hinder and hasten the decline of democratic institutions. The checks and balances of the federal government, a robust civil society and media, and individual rights—such as those enshrined in the First Amendment—often fail as bulwarks against democratic decline. The sobering reality for the United States, Ginsburg and Huq contend, is that the Constitution’s design makes democratic erosion more, not less, likely. Its structural rigidity has had unforeseen consequence—leaving the presidency weakly regulated and empowering the Supreme Court conjure up doctrines that ultimately facilitate rather than inhibit rights violations. Even the bright spots in the Constitution—the First Amendment, for example—may have perverse consequences in the hands of a deft communicator who can degrade the public sphere by wielding hateful language banned in many other democracies. We—and the rest of the world—can do better. The authors conclude by laying out practical steps for how laws and constitutional design can play a more positive role in managing the risk of democratic decline.

Democracy’s Discontent

Democracy’s Discontent PDF Author: Michael J. Sandel
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674197459
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

Book Description
On American democracy

Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government

Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government PDF Author: Adam Przeworski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113948897X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
The political institutions under which we live today evolved from a revolutionary idea that shook the world in the second part of the eighteenth century: that a people should govern itself. Yet if we judge contemporary democracies by the ideals of self-government, equality and liberty, we find that democracy is not what it was dreamt to be. This book addresses central issues in democratic theory by analyzing the sources of widespread dissatisfaction with democracies around the world. With attention throughout to historical and cross-national variations, the focus is on the generic limits of democracy in promoting equality, effective participation, control of governments by citizens, and liberty. The conclusion is that although some of this dissatisfaction has good reasons, some is based on an erroneous understanding of how democracy functions. Hence, although the analysis identifies the limits of democracy, it also points to directions for feasible reforms.

Constitutional Self-Government

Constitutional Self-Government PDF Author: Christopher L. Eisgruber
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674006089
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
Most of us regard the Constitution as the foundation of American democracy. How, then, are we to understand the restrictions that it imposes on legislatures and voters? Why, for example, does the Constitution allow unelected judges to exercise so much power? And why is this centuries-old document so difficult to amend? In short, how can we call ourselves a democracy when we are bound by an entrenched, and sometimes counter-majoritarian, constitution? In Constitutional Self-Government, Christopher Eisgruber focuses directly on the Constitution's seemingly undemocratic features. Whereas other scholars have tried to reconcile these features with majority rule, or simply acknowledged them as necessary limits on democracy, Eisgruber argues that constitutionalism is best regarded not as a constraint upon self-government, but as a crucial ingredient in a complex, non-majoritarian form of democracy. In an original and provocative argument, he contends that legislatures and elections provide only an incomplete representation of the people, and he claims that the Supreme Court should be regarded as another of the institutions able to speak for Americans about justice. At a pivotal moment of worldwide interest in judicial review and renewed national controversy over the Supreme Court's role in politics, Constitutional Self-Government ingeniously locates the Constitution's value in its capacity to sustain an array of institutions that render self-government meaningful for a large and diverse people.