Political Participation and Democracy in Britain PDF Download

Author: Geraint Parry
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521336024
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
The results of a survey on the level and patterns of political involvement in Britain.

Author: Paul Whiteley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0230358497
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
This broad-ranging text examines the big issues about political attitudes, behaviour and participation in contemporary Britain. Written by a leading expert and drawing on extensive research, this will be essential reading for all students of British politics and everyone involved in the world of politics and policy.

Author: Charles Pattie
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521534642
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
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Author: Matt Qvortrup
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1847796982
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
We live in an age of democracy. Very few people challenge the virtues of ‘government by the people’, yet politicians and commentators are fond of decrying the ‘crisis of democracy’. How do these views square up? This book provides the answer by surveying the philosophical history of democracy and its critics and by analysing empirical data about citizen participation in Britain and other developed democracies. In addition to analysis of major political thinkers like Plato, Machiavelli and J.S. Mill, the book analyses how modern technology has influenced democracy. Among the issues discussed in the book are why people vote and what determines their decisions, what prompts citizen involvement in riots and demonstrations, whether spin doctors and designer politics pose a threat to democracy and the influence of mass media on our political behaviour. More than merely providing an overview, the book also presents original analyses of timely issues such as referendums and the consequences of postal voting. An essential book for students of politics, history and media studies, this study puts the debate about democracy into perspective and offers a solid grounding for future discussions.

Author: Harold D. Clarke
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521874440
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
Shows that judgment of party competence is at the heart of electoral choice in contemporary Britain.

Author: Paul Whiteley
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 9780472106202
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Offers an explanation for political activism and general political participation

Author: Harold D. Clarke
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191639257
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Why do people vote as they do? Indeed, why do they vote at all? What do they think about elections, political parties, and democracy? This important book by four leading scholars addresses these questions. Using a wealth of data from the 1964-2001 British election studies, monthly Gallup polls, and numerous other national surveys conducted over the past four decades, the authors test the explanatory power of rival sociological and individual rationality models of turnout and party choice. Analyses of party choice endorse a valence politics model that challenges the long-dominant social class model. British voters make their political choices by evaluating the performance of parties and party leaders in economic and other important policy areas. Although these evaluations may be products of events and conditions that occur long before an election campaign officially begins, parties' national and local campaign activities are also influential. Consistent with the valence politics model, partisan attachments display individual- and aggregate-level dynamics that reflect ongoing judgements about the managerial abilities of parties and their leaders. A general incentives model provides the best explanation of turnout. Calculations of the costs and influence-discounted benefits of voting and sense of civic duty are key variables in this model. Significantly, the decline in turnout in recent elections does not reflect more general negative trends in public attitudes about the political system. Voters judge the performance of British democracy in much the same way as they evaluate its parties and politicians. Support at all levels of the system is a renewable resource, but one that must be renewed. A command of theory, data, models, and method ensure that Political Choice in Britain will be a major resource for all those interested in elections, voting, and democracy.

Author: Sidney Verba
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226852962
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
Participation in America represents the largest study ever conducted of the ways in which citizens participate in American political life. Sidney Verba and Norman H. Nie addresses the question of who participates in the American democratic process, how, and with what effects. They distinguish four kinds of political participation: voting, campaigning, communal activity, and interaction with a public official to achieve a personal goal. Using a national sample survey and interviews with leaders in 64 communities, the authors investigate the correlation between socioeconomic status and political participation. Recipient of the Kammerer Award (1972), Participation in America provides fundamental information about the nature of American democracy.

Author: Emmanuelle Avril
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317750764
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
The establishment of democracy on both sides of the Atlantic has not been a smooth evolution towards an idealized presumed endpoint. Far from it, democratization has been marked by setbacks and victories, a process often referred to as ‘contested democracy’. In view of recent mobilizations such as the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, in which new technologies have played a key role, there is a need for a renewed analysis of the long-term evolution of US and UK political systems. Using new areas of research, this book argues that the ideals and the practices of Anglo-American democracy can be best understood by studying diverse forms of participation, which go beyond classical expressions of contestation and dissent such as voting. The authors analyze political parties, social movements, communications and social media, governance, cultural diversity, identity politics, public-private actors and social cohesion to illustrate how the structure and context of popular participation play a significant role in whether, and when, citizens ́ efforts have any meaningful impact on those who exercise political power. In doing so, the authors take crucial steps towards understanding how a vigorous public sphere and popular sovereignty can be made to work in today’s global environment. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, British and US history, democracy, political participation, governance, social movements and politics.

Author: Hugh Atkinson
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526129558
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
This accessible book is about local democracy, civic engagement, political participation and community in Britain. It rejects the many pessimistic accounts that seek to dominate our political discourse with their talk of political apathy, community breakdown and selfish individualism The book focuses on local democratic politics in Britain over the last decade and a half, from the election of the New Labour government right up to the current Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government. It includes an analysis of local democracy, civic engagement and participation across a range of policy areas and in the context of debates around accountability, legitimacy, sustainability, localism and the 'big society'. Drawing on a wide range of examples, it argues that local democracy is a vibrant terrain of innovation, civic engagement and participation, and dynamic community activity, with a wide variety of informal and formal activity taking place.