Author: Gregory Conti Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1108428738 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 433
Book Description
The notion of 'representative democracy' seems unquestionably familiar today, but how did the Victorians understand democracy, parliamentary representation, and diversity?
Author: Robert Richie Publisher: Beacon Press ISBN: 9780807044216 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 124
Book Description
A lively dialogue on the power of electoral reform to strengthen our democratic institutions Scholars, critics, reformers, politicians, and activists have for years asked why Americans are so uninvolved in the political process. Minority underrepresentation, the marginalization of progressive voices, the exclusion of the poor-these and other serious problems appear everywhere, from the pages of national newspapers to MTV. Robert Richie and Steven Hill offer a powerful solution, one currently in practice in many parts of the world, including places in the U.S.: proportional representation. They demonstrate that unlike the winner-takes-all system, which always leaves the losers completely unrepresented, proportional representation gives all points of view a political voice; it works by giving citizens multiple votes or the right to vote for more than one candidate, or by giving political parties power according to percentages of votes received. Esteemed thinkers-Cynthia McKinney, John Ferejohn, E. Joshua Rosenkrantz, Gary W. Cox, Daniel Cantor, Ross Mirkarimi, Anthony Thig penn, and Pamela S. Karlan-respond in essays discussing the forms proportional representation could take to operate best in the U.S. Their contributions underscore the concept at the heart of this book: the more people invested in the political process, the more democratic-and reflective of all of us-our system becomes. NEW DEMOCRACY FORUM: A series of short paperback originals exploring creative solutions to our most urgent national concerns. The series editors (for Boston Review), Joshua Cohen and Joel Rogers, aim to foster politically engaged, intellectually honest, and morally serious debate about fundamental issues-both on and off the agenda of conventional politics.
Author: Kathleen L. Barber Publisher: Ohio State University Press ISBN: 9780814208540 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 236
Book Description
"From this practice stems the endemic underrepresentation of minorities in our political life. Enforcement of the Voting Rights Act has led to increased minority electoral success, but the strategy most commonly used - creation of majority-minority districts - has come under attack in the Supreme Court.".
Author: Mark E. Rush Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 9780847692125 Category : Law Languages : en Pages : 216
Book Description
Two experts on political representation, voting rights, and the election process debate the most pertinent issues of electoral reform and assess them in the context of the Founders' vision of representation and minority rights. Mark E. Rush and Richard L. Engstrom discuss the promises and pitfalls of electoral reform--specifically, the merits of converting from the traditional single-member district to some form of proportional representation. The authors examine the shortcomings of the existing methods of elections (such as gerrymandering, low turnout, voter apathy, and underrepresentation of minorities and women), debate the merits of converting to proportional representation, ask whether it would address the imperfections of the current system, and investigate the extent to which proportional representation adheres to the Founders' (particularly Madison's) plan for representation. With an introduction by esteemed political scientist Bruce E. Cain, this is an essential text for courses in voting rights and behavior, elections, and American political thought.
Author: Ben Reilly Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309519101 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 73
Book Description
This paper is one of a series being prepared for the National Research Council's Committee on International Conflict Resolution. The committee was organized in late 1995 to respond to a growing need for prevention, management, and resolution of violent conflict in the international arena, a concern about the changing nature and context of such conflict in the post-Cold War era, and a recent expansion of knowledge in the field. The committee's main goal is to advance the practice of conflict resolution by using the methods and critical attitude of science to examine the effectiveness of various techniques and concepts that have been advanced for preventing, managing, and resolving international conflicts. The committee's research agenda has been designed to supplement the work of other groups, particularly the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, which issued its final report in December 1997. The committee has identified a number of specific techniques and concepts of current interest to policy practitioners and has asked leading specialists on each one to carefully review and analyze available knowledge and to summarize what is known about the conditions under which each is or is not effective. These papers present the results of their work.