Revolutionaries, counter-revolutionaries, and reformers the world over appeal to democracy to justify their actions. But when political factions compete over the right to act in "the people's" name, who is to decide? Although the problem is as old as the great revolutions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, events from the Arab Spring to secession referendums suggest that today it is hardly any closer to being solved. This book defends a new theory of democratic legitimacy and change that provides an answer. Christopher Meckstroth shows why familiar views that identify democracy with timeless principles or institutions fall into paradox when asked to make sense of democratic founding and change. Solving the problem, he argues, requires shifting focus to the historical conditions under which citizens work out what it will mean to govern themselves in a democratic way. The only way of sorting out disputes without faith in progress is to show, in Socratic fashion, that some parties' claims to speak for "the people" cannot hold up even on their own terms. Meckstroth builds his argument on provocative and closely-argued interpretations of Plato, Kant, and Hegel, suggesting that familiar views of them as foundationalist metaphysicians misunderstand their debt to a method of radical doubt pioneered by Socrates. Recovering this tradition of antifoundational argument requires rethinking the place of German idealism in the history of political thought and opens new directions for contemporary democratic theory. The historical and Socratic theory of democracy the book defends makes possible an entirely new way of approaching struggles over contested notions of progress, popular sovereignty, political judgment and democratic change.
Benjamin Ginsberg and Martin Shefter , Politics By Other Means : The Declining Significance of Elections in America ( New York : Basic Books , 1990 ) . 29. Mayhew , Divided We Govern . 30. Richard L. Berke , “ U.S. Voters Focus on ...
This book provides a clear understanding of the origin and nature of democracy, citizenship and free speech. First published in 1989, the revised edition includes 16 pages of color photographs and has been update to include recent events.
Taking a fresh approach to common American government topics, authors Edward Greenberg and Benjamin Page present a simple but powerful framework of evidence-based research to guide students to discover how government, politics, and the ...
This exciting, best selling introduction to American government asks students to critically evaluate the quality of democracy in America today and to consider how underlying structural factors, such as the economy and cultural values, ...
Greenberg, Edward S. and Page, Benjamin I., Struggle for Democracy, The: CourseCompass Edition, 5th Edition *\ This edition seamlessly integrates the online course management capabilities and web activities of Greenberg's CourseCompass ...
' In order to boost student engagement with key concepts, the 2016 Election Edition incorporates coverage of contemporary issues that dominate today's headlines, as well as the most up-to-date data."--Publisher's website
This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book.
An undergraduate text in American government and politics, asking students to critically assess the quality of democracy in the US against an evaluative standard provided by the authors, and presenting a simple analytical framework to help ...
Question how American democracy is developing. This version of The Struggle for Democracy, 2012 Election Editionincludes all ten chapters from Magleby/Light’s State and Local Government by the People, 16/e at...
The Struggle for Democracy in Germany