Stealth Democracy: Americans' Beliefs About How Government Should Work

Stealth Democracy: Americans' Beliefs About How Government Should Work
ISBN-10
0521009863
ISBN-13
9780521009867
Category
Political Science
Pages
284
Language
English
Published
2002-08-29
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Authors
John R. Hibbing, Elizabeth Theiss-Morse

Description

Americans often complain about the operation of their government, but scholars have never developed a complete picture of people s preferred type of government. In this provocative and timely book, Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, employing an original national survey and focus groups, report the governmental procedures Americans desire. Contrary to the prevailing view that people want greater involvement in politics, most citizens do not care about most policies and therefore are content to turn over decision-making authority to someone else. People s wish for the political system is that decision makers be empathetic and, especially, non-self-interested, not that they be responsive and accountable to the people s largely nonexistent policy preferences or, even worse, that the people be obligated to participate directly in decision making. Hibbing and Theiss-Morse conclude by cautioning communitarians, direct democrats, social capitalists, deliberation theorists, and all those who think that greater citizen involvement is the solution to society s problems.

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