The Democracy Sourcebook

ISBN 10: 0262541475 / ISBN 13: 9780262541473

Published by MIT Press, 2003

About this Item

The book is in good condition with all pages and cover intact, including the dust jacket if originally issued. The spine may show light wear. Pages may contain some notes or highlighting, and there might be a "From the library of" label. Boxed set packaging, shrink wrap, or included media like CDs may be missing.

Seller Inventory # BSM.12X5C

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Democracy Sourcebook
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262541475
• ISBN 13: 9780262541473
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

The Democracy Sourcebook offers a collection of classic writings and contemporary scholarship on democracy, creating a book that can be used by undergraduate and graduate students in a wide variety of courses, including American politics, international relations, comparative politics, and political philosophy. The editors have chosen substantial excerpts from the essential theorists of the past, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Alexis de Tocqueville, and the authors of The Federalist Papers; they place them side by side with the work of such influential modern scholars as Joseph Schumpeter, Adam Przeworski, Seymour Martin Lipset, Samuel P. Huntington, Ronald Dworkin, and Amartya Sen.

The book is divided into nine self-contained chapters: "Defining Democracy," which discusses procedural, deliberative, and substantive democracy; "Sources of Democracy," on why democracy exists in some countries and not in others; "Democracy, Culture, and Society," about cultural and sociological preconditions for democracy; "Democracy and Constitutionalism," which focuses on the importance of independent courts and a bill of rights; "Presidentialism versus Parliamentarianism"; "Representation," discussing which is the fairest system of democratic accountability; "Interest Groups"; "Democracy's Effects," an examination of the effect of democracy on economic growth and social inequality; and finally, "Democracy and the Global Order" discusses the effects of democracy on international relations, including the propensity for war and the erosion of national sovereignty by transnational forces.

About the Author

Robert A. Dahl, a leading authority on democracy, is the author of many books, including A Preface to Democracy, Democracy and Its Critics, and How Democratic Is the American Constitution? He is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Yale University.

Ian Shapiro is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor and Chairman of the Department of Political Science at Yale University.

José Antonio Cheibub is Associate Professor of Political Science at Yale University.