Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government (Cambridge Studies in the Theory of Democracy, Series Number 9)

The Book Analyzes The Sources Of Widespread Dissatisfaction With Democracies Around The World And Identifies Directions For Feasible Reforms--provided By Publisher. The Political Institutions Under Which We Live Today Evolved From A Revolutionary Idea That Shook The World In The Second Part Of The Eighteenth Century: That A People Should Govern Itself. Yet If We Judge Contemporary Democracies By The Ideals Of Self-government, Equality, And Liberty, We Find That Democracy Is Not What It Was Dreamt To Be. This Book Addresses Central Issues In Democratic Theory By Analyzing The Sources Of Widespread Dissatisfaction With Democracies Around The World. With Attention Throughout To Historical And Cross-national Variations, The Focus Is On The Generic Limits Of Democracy In Promoting Equality, Effective Participation, Control Of Governments By Citizens, And Liberty. The Conclusion Is That Although Some Of This Dissatisfaction Has Good Reasons, Some Is Based On An Erroneous Understanding Of How Democracy Functions. Hence, Although The Analysis Identifies The Limits Of Democracy, It Also Points To Directions For Feasible Reforms--provided By Publisher. Machine Generated Contents Note: 1. Introduction; 2. Self-government Of The People; 3. A Brief History Of Representative Institutions; 4. Equality; 5. Choice And Participation; 6. Agency; 7. Liberty; 8. Democracy As An Implementation Of Self-government In Our Times. Adam Przeworski. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. Half-title 3 Series-title 5 Dedication 6 Title 7 Copyright 8 Contents 9 Preface 11 1 Introduction 19 1.1 Introduction 19 1.2 Democracy and "democracy'' 21 1.3 Ideals, actions, and interests 27 1.4 Equality, participation, representation, and liberty 30 2 Self-Government of the People 35 2.1 The ideal of self-government 35 2.2 "Self-government of the people'' 36 2.3 Self-government in the presence of heterogeneity 42 2.3.1 Democracy as a Method of Processing Conflicts 42 2.3.2 Self-Government and Rotation in Office 47 2.4 Second-best self-government 49 2.4.1 Two Theorems 50 2.4.2 A Caveat 57 2.4.3 Beyond Social Choice Theory 60 3 A Brief History of Representative Institutions 62 3.1 From representative institutions to democracy 62 3.2 The rise of representative institutions 65 3.3 Suffrage 66 3.4 Electoral participation 71 3.5 Legislative–executive relations 77 4 Equality 84 4.1 Introduction 84 4.2 Pedigree: aristocracy and democracy 86 4.3 Democracy and equality 89 4.4 Do suffrage restrictions violate democratic ideology? 92 4.5 Democracy and property 98 4.6 Democracy and income distribution 102 4.7 Closing the circle 110 5 Choice and Participation 117 5.1 Introduction 117 5.2 Choice in elections 119 5.3 Democracy and participation 127 5.4 The role of the people between elections 129 5.5 Voting, electing, and civil peace 135 5.5.1 Voting and Electing 135 5.5.2 Elections and Civil Peace 140 6 Agency 143 6.1 Introduction 143 6.2 The structure of government 145 6.2.1 The Problem to be Solved 145 6.2.2 Functions and Powers 146 6.2.3 The Balance of Powers 149 6.2.4 Divided Implies Limited? 154 6.3 Protecting the status quo 156 6.3.1 Neutrality and Supermajority 156 6.3.2 Bicameralism and Supermajority Rule 157 6.3.3 Some Facts 160 6.3.4 Democracy and Majority Rule 161 6.4 Citizens and governments 163 7 Liberty 167 7.1 Introduction 167 7.2 Disabling is enabling 169 7.3 "Liberty is everything'' 171 7.4 Liberty as enumerated rights 176 8 Democracy as an Implementation of Self-Government in Our Times 179 References 191 Name Index 209 Subject Index 215 Country Index 217 0521761034,9780521761031,0521140110,9780521140119 Cambridge University Press