Multilevel Democracy: How Local Institutions and Civil Society Shape the Modern State

Sellers, Jefferey M./ Lidström, Anders/ Bae, Yooil

ISBN 10: 1108427782 / ISBN 13: 9781108427784

Published by Cambridge Univ Pr, 2020

About this Item

396 pages. 9.25x6.25x1.25 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # x-1108427782

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Multilevel Democracy: How Local Institutions and Civil Society Shape the Modern State
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108427782
• ISBN 13: 9781108427784
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.85 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

This volume presents the first systematic comparative analysis of national traditions of local democracy across the developed world, as well as their origins and evolution. It reveals how inclusive local institutions that integrate national and local governance make democracy work better. Across most of the developed world, early forms of the national state entrenched the local power of elites. In Anglo-American and Swiss democracies, state formation imposed enduring tensions with local civic governance. In contrast, inclusive, integrative local institutions in Northern Europe enabled close links with central government around common local and national agendas, producing better governance and fuller democracy to the present day. Through comparative analysis, the authors demonstrate how institutions for local governance and the participation of civil society differ widely among developed democracies, and how local democracy relates to national democracy. The resulting insights fundamentally recast our understanding of how to build and maintain more effective democracies.

About the Author

Jefferey Sellers is Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Public Policy and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California. He wrote Governing From Below (Cambridge, 2002) and has received numerous grants from the US National Science Foundation and other sources.