Democracy for realists : why elections do not produce responsive government Cover Image

Book

Democracy for realists : why elections do not produce responsive government / Christopher H. Achen, Larry M. Bartels.

Achen, Christopher H., (author.). Bartels, Larry M., 1956- (author.).

Summary:

Achen and Bartels argue that democratic theory needs to be founded on identity groups and political parties, not on the preferences of individual voters. Democracy for Realists provides a powerful challenge to conventional thinking, pointing the way toward a fundamentally different understanding of the realities and potential of democratic government.

Record details

ISBN: 9780691169446
ISBN: 0691169446
Physical Description: xvi, 390 pages : illustrations, charts ; 25 cm
Publisher: Princeton ; Princeton University Press, [2016]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 335-369) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

1. Democratic ideals and realities -- 2. The elusive mandate: elections and the mirage of popular control -- 3. Tumbling down into a democratical republick: "pure democracy" and the pitfalls of popular control -- 4. A rational God of vengeance and of reward? The logic of retrospective accountability -- 5. Blind retrospection: electoral responses to droughts, floods, and shark attacks -- 6. Musical chairs: economic voting and the specious present -- 7. A chicken in every pot: ideology and retrospection in the great depression -- 8. The very basis of reasons: groups, social identities, and political psychology -- 9. Partisan hearts and spleens: social identities and political change -- 10. It feels like we're thinking: the rationalizing voter -- 11. Groups and power: toward a realist theory of democracy.