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Author: Jacob Rowbottom Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1139489445 Category : Law Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
High-profile controversies surrounding the funding of political parties have shown how inequalities in wealth can enter the political process. The growth of the professional lobbying of MPs and the executive raises similar questions about money in politics. More broadly, inequalities emerge in terms of the opportunities the public have to participate in political debate. This analysis of the ways wealth can be used to influence politics in Britain explores the threat posed to the principle of political equality. As well as examining lobbying and party funding, the discussion also focuses on the ownership and control of the media, the chance to be heard on the internet and the impact of the privatisation of public spaces on rights to assemble and protest. Looking at this range of political activities, the author proposes various strategies designed to protect the integrity of British democracy and stop inequalities in wealth becoming inequalities in politics.
Author: Jacob Rowbottom Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1139489445 Category : Law Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
High-profile controversies surrounding the funding of political parties have shown how inequalities in wealth can enter the political process. The growth of the professional lobbying of MPs and the executive raises similar questions about money in politics. More broadly, inequalities emerge in terms of the opportunities the public have to participate in political debate. This analysis of the ways wealth can be used to influence politics in Britain explores the threat posed to the principle of political equality. As well as examining lobbying and party funding, the discussion also focuses on the ownership and control of the media, the chance to be heard on the internet and the impact of the privatisation of public spaces on rights to assemble and protest. Looking at this range of political activities, the author proposes various strategies designed to protect the integrity of British democracy and stop inequalities in wealth becoming inequalities in politics.
Author: Taylor N. Carlson Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 0226834166 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 218
Book Description
An enlightening examination of what it means when Americans rely on family and friends to stay on top of politics. Accurate information is at the heart of democratic functioning. For decades, researchers interested in how information is disseminated have focused on mass media, but the reality is that many Americans today do not learn about politics from direct engagement with the news. Rather, about one-third of Americans learn chiefly from information shared by their peers in conversation or on social media. How does this socially transmitted information differ from that communicated by traditional media? What are the consequences for political attitudes and behavior? Drawing on evidence from experiments, surveys, and social media, Taylor N. Carlson finds that, as information flows first from the media then person to person, it becomes sparse, more biased, less accurate, and more mobilizing. The result is what Carlson calls distorted democracy. Although socially transmitted information does not necessarily render democracy dysfunctional, Through the Grapevine shows how it contributes to a public that is at once underinformed, polarized, and engaged.
Author: Dean, Malcolm Publisher: Policy Press ISBN: 1447305361 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 430
Book Description
Malcolm Dean, The Guardian newspaper’s longstanding chief monitor of social affairs, expertly indicts his own trade through a series of seven case studies on the influence of media on social policy. Drawing on four decades of top-level Whitehall briefings, topped up by interviews with 150 policy-makers, the book is packed with insights, and colourful stories from events in Whitehall's corridors, culminating in a damning list detailing the seven deadly sins of the 'reptiles' (modern journalists). A new final chapter reports on the News International hacking scandal, and the subsequent Leveson Inquiry, prompting criminal and civil lawsuits and leading to a radical press regulator plan. Written in an engaging way, it offers a unique insider’s perspective and a detailed and valuable account of what goes on in news rooms, pressure groups, departmental policy divisions and Parliament.
Author: John Seip Publisher: UPA ISBN: 0761867449 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 465
Book Description
From inside the book: “Since 1980, the economy has been growing, and productivity has been growing, but trickle-down values—that we, the American people promote, pursuant to the Republican Party’s conservative ideology—have rigged the economy to continuously upwardly redistribute those revenues attributable to our increased productivity, yielding a productivity/wage disconnect, resulting in increased concentration of income and wealth at the top, in corporations and among older Americans (beneficiaries of income from Social Security, pensions and investments and continuing income due to delaying retirement), and the lowest percentage of GDP attributable to wages and highest attributable to profits since World War II. But trickle-down has not only distorted our economic thought; it has also distorted our political thought, our sociology and our concept of the rule of law. The result has been that the trickle-down policies promoted by the Republican Party are undermining our economy, democracy, institutions and health.” For further discussion contact author at [email protected].
Author: Majid Behrouzi Publisher: Lexington Books ISBN: 9780739110256 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 248
Book Description
Democracy as the Political Empowerment of the People: The Betrayal of an Ideal argues that the conception of democracy that prevails in the general consciousness of the contemporary world is a distorted version of the "original" idea of democracy. An important component of democracy in its original formulation was the ideal of the citizens' direct participation in the legislative and political decision-making process, yet modern representative governments frequently disregard this fundamental component. While often justified by claims of impracticality, Majid Behrouzi sets up the case for a return to the ideal of direct democracy. Offering a short conceptual history of the idea of democracy, this book aims to provide an account of the efforts and the relevant historical and theoretical developments that have contributed to the "perversion" of the original idea of democracy, ultimately retrieving the idea of the direct, deliberative, and equal participation of all citizens in political decision-making. Together with its companion volume, Democracy as the Political Empowerment of the Citizen: Direct-Deliberative e-Democracy, this book is essential to scholars interested in the evolution of modern democracy and the future of politics.
Author: Stanley Deetz Publisher: SUNY Press ISBN: 9780791408636 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 416
Book Description
According to Deetz, our obsolete understanding of communication processes and power relations prevents us from seeing the corporate domination of public decision making. For most people issues of democracy, representation, freedom of speech, and censorship pertain to the State and its relationship to individuals and groups, and are linked to occasional political processes rather than everyday life decisions. This work reclaims the politics of personal identity and experience within the work environment as a first step to a democratic form of public decision-making appropriate to the modern context.
Author: Jacob S. Hacker Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 030013066X Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 348
Book Description
The Republicans who run American government today have defied the normal laws of political gravity. They have ruled with the slimmest of majorities and yet have transformed the nation’s governing priorities. They have strayed dramatically from the moderate middle of public opinion and yet have faced little public backlash. Again and again, they have sided with the affluent and ideologically extreme while paying little heed to the broad majority of Americans. And much more often than not, they have come out on top. This book shows why—and why this troubling state of affairs can and must be changed. Written in a highly accessible style by two professional political scientists, Off Center tells the story of a deliberative process restricted and distorted by party chieftains, of unresponsive power brokers subverting the popular will, and of legislation written by and for powerful interests and deliberately designed to mute popular discontent. In the best tradition of engaged social science, Off Center is a powerful and informed critique that points the way toward a stronger foundation for American democracy.
Author: Werner Neff Publisher: ISBN: 9781478777953 Category : United States Languages : en Pages : 178
Book Description
Is America Failing its Democracy? Is the interest of the American people authentically and ethically represented by our Government? The general public is dissatisfied with politics, yet feels helpless to effect change. Yes, we have allowed our democracy to drift unnoticed into dysfunctional political theater. Preservation of the party line is more important than the wellbeing of the American people. In Reclaim American Democracy, I explore critical breakdowns in American politics and encourage the American people to reclaim their democratic rights. We, the people, are fully responsible for change and cannot afford to sit back. Why Can't America Eliminate Poverty? My eye-opening theory on poverty traps reveals the hidden betrayal of the American people. The working poor are trapped in a vicious cycle created by politics and policy and held in place by institutional mechanisms. If we do not put an end to these poverty traps quickly, we will create an even greater gap between the rich and poor. The failure of American social legislation to protect its people is now impacting even the middle class. Inadequate health care coverage drives people into bankruptcy and poverty. The lack of mandatory savings for retirement leaves many citizens struggling in old age. The minimum wage was created to ensure basic income for the lowest wage earners. Today, employers and politicians lobby and manipulate the minimum wage to keep labor costs low. Without a sufficient minimum wage, food stamps, Medicaid, and other social programs must fill the gap. American policy has been ineffective at eliminating poverty. Half of the Federal budget now supports the poor and the elderly all over the country. Here's the Trap... Did you know that in the end you are indirectly supporting the bottom line and executive pay of companies who intentionally underpay their employees? Hardworking American people subsidize an insufficient minimum wage with their taxes through government programs. You, the taxpayer, are currently underwriting 200 welfare programs that help prevent people from failing into hunger, homelessness, and poverty. The Distortion of Democratic Principles The American political system allows the economic elite and big corporations to influence legislation in the form of lobbying. Lobbyists influence lawmakers to adjust or manipulate economic principles in their favor. Economic conditions increasingly favor the rich. As American democratic principles are distorted, the priorities of the American people are neglected. The Voting Paradox Too many voters are blinded by the American Dream. Struggling citizens vote against their real needs and interests and, in the end, sabotage their own well-being and democratic rights. Reclaim American Democracy is a vital contribution to the American people. It is a must read for change makers.
Author: Nadia Urbinati Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674726383 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 318
Book Description
In Democracy Disfigured, Nadia Urbinati diagnoses the ills that beset the body politic in an age of hyper-partisanship and media monopolies and offers a spirited defense of the messy compromises and contentious outcomes that define democracy. Urbinati identifies three types of democratic disfiguration: the unpolitical, the populist, and the plebiscitarian. Each undermines a crucial division that a well-functioning democracy must preserve: the wall separating the free forum of public opinion from governmental institutions that enact the will of the people. Unpolitical democracy delegitimizes political opinion in favor of expertise. Populist democracy radically polarizes the public forum in which opinion is debated. And plebiscitary democracy overvalues the aesthetic and nonrational aspects of opinion. For Urbinati, democracy entails a permanent struggle to make visible the issues that citizens deem central to their lives. Opinion is thus a form of action as important as the mechanisms that organize votes and mobilize decisions. Urbinati focuses less on the overt enemies of democracy than on those who pose as its friends: technocrats wedded to procedure, demagogues who make glib appeals to "the people," and media operatives who, given their preference, would turn governance into a spectator sport and citizens into fans of opposing teams.
Author: Jacob Rowbottom
Author: Jacob Rowbottom
Author: Taylor N. Carlson
Author: Dean, Malcolm
Author: John Seip
Author: 
Author: Majid Behrouzi
Author: Stanley Deetz
Author: Jacob S. Hacker
Author: Werner Neff
Author: Nadia Urbinati