The Future of American Democratic Politics: Principles and Practices

In this book, fifteen major scholars assess the current state of American democracy, offering a spirited dialogue on the future of democratic politics. Contributors focus on three principles fundamental to democracyequality, liberty, and participation. They examine these principles within the context of the basic institutions of American democracy: Congress and the state legislatures, the president, political parties, interest groups, and the Supreme Court. They raise questions regarding the checks and balances among formal governmental institutions as well as the role of political parties and interest groups.

Topics discussed include the incomplete mobilization of the electorate, the debates over campaign finance reform and term limits, the Supreme Courts activist role in the Florida recount, the dangers of teledemocracy and state initiatives, the separation of political participation from residential location, "identity politics," the clash of "negative" and "positive" liberty, and the prospects for personal freedom in an era of terrorist threats.

This timely collection covers the issues relevant to the future of American democracy today not only for lawmakers, students, and historians, but for any concerned citizen.

Gerald M. Pomper, Board of Governors Professor of Political Science at Rutgers (Emeritus), is the former director of the Walt Whitman Center. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including The Political State of New Jersey (Rutgers University Press), The Election of 2000: Reports and Interpretations, and Ordinary Heroes and American Democracy (forthcoming).

Marc D. Weiner is the assistant director of the Princeton University Survey Research Center and a doctoral candidate in American politics at Rutgers. Contributors are drawn from major universities throughout the nation, including Chicago, California, Harvard, Northeastern, Pennsylvania, Rutgers, and Southern California.