Approaching Democracy - Softcover

Berman, Larry; Murphy, Bruce Allen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0131443887 ISBN 13: 9780131443884

Publisher: Pearson College Div, 2004

Synopsis

This concise paperback introduces the basics of American government, structured around democracy as an ideal toward which we continually strive. Thematically organized, it prepares readers to review events in the context of this goal. This book prepares readers to be good citizens, armed with the information they will need to follow politics and make educated choices about leaders, policies, and actions. Cases and real-world examples reflect current trends and events such as: Tom Ridge and the Homeland Security Council, the War on Terrorism and Anti-Terrorism Bill, Anthrax and the US Postal Service, Dick Cheney as the new VP, Census 2000, the Enron scandal, Military tribunals, Senator Jeffords party switch, the Supreme Court and the 2000 Presidential Election, 2002 Congressional elections, governments in the Islamic world, and much more. Topics also address the multiple process

About this title

About the Author

LARRY BERMAN is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis, and since 1999 has served as the founding Director of the University of California, Washington Center.

Berman is the author or co-author of ten books and numerous articles. His research and publications have focused on the presidency, foreign policy, and the war in Vietnam. The most recent book, No Peace, No Honor has been featured on C-Span's Book TV, the History Channel's Secrets of War, reviewed prominently in The New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Sacramento Bee, and Washington Times. In addition, he has appeared on a number of broadcasts, including Bill Moyers' PBS series, The Public Mind, and David McCullough's American Experience series, Vietnam: A Television History.

Berman has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Science Foundation, as well as several research grants from presidential libraries. He has been a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and a scholar in residence at the Rockefeller Foundation's Center in Bellagio, Italy.

Berman has received the 1996 Outstanding Mentor of Women in Political Science Award from the Women's Caucus for Political Science. He received the 1994 Bernath Lecture Prize, given annually by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations to a scholar whose work has most contributed to our understanding of foreign relations. His class on the American presidency is cited in Lisa Birnbach's New and Improved College Guide as one of the most recommended classes for undergraduates at UC Davis.

BRUCE ALLEN MURPHY is the Fred Morgan Kirby Professor of Civil Rights in the Department of Government and Law at Lafayette College. He is a nationally recognized judicial biographer and scholar on the American Supreme Court, civil rights and liberties, judicial behavior, and judicial biography.

Murphy is the author of many publications, including his newest judicial biography Wild Bill: The Legend and Life of William O. Douglas, America's Most Controversial Supreme Court Justice, which has been selected by the Book-of-the-Month and History book clubs. He also wrote Fortas: The Rise and Ruin of a Supreme Court Justice, which was nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. His best-selling The Brandeis-Frankfurter Connection: The Secret Political Activities of Two Supreme Court Justices, which received the American Bar Association's Certificate of Merit, was listed among The New York Times' Best Books for 1983 and was serialized by The Washington Post. In addition, he edited Portraits of American Politics: A Reader.

Murphy has received numerous teaching awards for his courses in American politics, civil rights and liberties, and Constitutional law. He has been a finalist in the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education's national Professor of the Year competition and was cited as a Best Professor in Lisa Birnbach's New and Improved College Guide. He is listed in both Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Welcome to Approaching Democracy, Portfolio Edition! From the moment eight years ago when the first edition went to press, the "professor" in each of us began mentally updating and modifying the original theme of the textbook. Now with the enormous challenges facing our country in the "war on terrorism," and institutional changes in the government that are underway, we face the task of using our theme of "approaching democracy" as a standard to test the democratic nature of this nation's quest to balance security and liberty at home, as well as bringing elements of democracy to Iraq. In making this effort, we have learned so much from the hundreds of students enrolled in our classes, as well as those who e-mailed or contacted us through our home page. We have also listened to our undergraduate readers throughout the country. From both of us we extend a heartfelt thank you!

Why Approaching Democracy?

Approaching Democracy, Portfolio Edition, remains an exploration of the American experiment in self-governing. A great deal has happened in American politics since we published the first edition in 1996; we have tried to capture those changes factually and thematically, albeit in a briefer format.

Our title and theme come from Vaclav Havel, a former dissident Czechoslovakian playwright once imprisoned by his country's communist government and later elected president of the Czech Republic. Addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress on February 21, 1990, Havel noted that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, millions of people from Eastern Europe were involved in a historically irreversible process, beginning their quest for freedom and democracy. And it was the United States of America that provided the model, the way to democracy and independence, for these newly freed peoples. But Havel put his own spin on the notion of American democracy as a model, "As long as people are people," Havel explained, "democracy, in the full sense of the word, will always be no more than an ideal. In this sense, you, too, are merely approaching democracy. But you have one great advantage: You have been approaching democracy uninterruptedly for more than two hundred years, and your journey toward the horizon has never been disrupted by a totalitarian system."

The United States has been endeavoring to approach democracy for over two hundred years. In spite of its astonishing diversity and the consequent potential for hostility and violence, the United States has moved closer to the democratic ideal than any other country. But the process of approaching democracy is a continual one, and the debate about how to achieve democratic aspirations drives our politics. In other words, American democracy remains very much a work in progress.

We believe the political history of the world in which we live has validated this democratic experiment in self-government. The number of democracies worldwide increased from a few dozen in the 1950s to 121 of the 192 independent countries by mid-2002. As a result, writes Joshua Muravchik of the American Enterprise Institute, "Democracy has become an expectation, its claims hard to resist. . . Democracy has established itself as a universal norm."

Clearly, we live in an age of democratic aspiration, and for many around the world who seek to achieve democracy, the United States represents a model of the democratic process. As Havel expressed, the triumph of democratic ideas in Eastern Europe was inspired by America's example of freedom and democracy. We are the laboratory for those who have broken from their totalitarian past and for those who dream of doing so. Notice how many Afghan men shaved their beards and how many women removed their burkas and smiled after the rout of the Taliban. The difference between living under a political system that promotes freedom and one that enslaves its citizens is easy to identify. What is less clear involves designing a system in Iraq, for example, that will foster representative government and laws.

In many respects, the earliest edition of this book was written with an eye toward measuring whether the democracies emerging from the breakup of the Soviet Union would remain democratic. In this Portfolio edition, what was once an external examination of the nature of democratic governments has become an internal examination of the nature of America's own democracy, as the government formed its policies for fighting a "war on terrorism." Since the terrible attacks of September 11, 2001, political discussion has raged over how to protect this country and still remain true to the ideals of the democracy as expressed by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The world is watching us as we face this test. We have found that this book's theme of "approaching democracy" is the ideal scheme for evaluating whether, after so many tragic efforts over the last two centuries of sacrificing liberty in order to gain a measure of security, this nation will be able to find the proper, measured balance between these two goals in defending itself. Our challenge, then, has been to use our "approaching democracy" theme both to evaluate the impact on America's democracy in fighting terrorism, while also offering a vision of what America will look like in the future. Various chapters in this book examine the American approach to democracy—sorting out the ideals, studying the institutions, processes, and policies, and analyzing the dilemmas and paradoxes of freedom. All of these concerns are also relevant to events in Iraq today. Can a post-Saddam Iraq develop elements of democracy? How Iraq "Approaches Democracy" is perhaps the central issue of the day.

Organization

Part I presents the foundations of American government. Our theme is introduced in Chapter 1, where we identify the goals and elements that can be used to evaluate America's approach to democracy. We introduce a few widely accepted "elements X~of democracy" that serve as markers to identify progress toward the democratic ideals we identified earlier.

Part II explores the institutions of American democracy. It describes the various governmental arenas—the judiciary, the Congress, the executive branch, and the bureaucracy—where the struggle over democratic ideals is played out.

Part III focuses on the processes of American government and democracy. Through the avenues of public opinion, political parties, elections, interest groups, and the media, citizens can access and direct their government to achieve their desired goals.

Part IV provides a detailed analysis of various issues of civil rights and liberties. They include the most fundamental rights of Americans, such as freedom of speech and religion, and are considered by many to be the foundation of our democracy.

Part V addresses domestic and economic policy-making process and its consequences. How well national policy makers respond to the challenges of policy making—and how democratic the policies are—remain crucial questions as American government continues the process of approaching democracy.

Chapter Pedagogy

Each chapter contains a chapter outline, questions for reflection after each opening case study and throughout the chapter, a running glossary in the margin, key terms listed at the end of the chapter, a summary, and a list of suggested readings. A list of the Supreme Court justices and a transcript of Vaclav Havel's address to Congress have been added to the materials in our appendix, which also include the founding documents and the list of Presidents and Congresses.

Although an introductory course in American government is not solely a course on current events, students are always interested in what is going on around them. Throughout the text, we use examples that are at the forefront of the news so that students have background information to draw from. Examples in the text put today's headlines into meaningful context, from the governments "war on terrorism" to the effects of campaign finance reform.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pearson College Div
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0131443887
• ISBN 13: 9780131443884
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 507