Citizen Lawmakers

Citizen Lawmakers PDF Author: David D. Schmidt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780877225942
Category : Referendum
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description

Citizen Lawmakers

Citizen Lawmakers PDF Author: David D. Schmidt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780877225942
Category : Referendum
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Initiative, Referendum and Recall

The Initiative, Referendum and Recall PDF Author: William Bennett Munro
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Recall
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description


Direct Democracy

Direct Democracy PDF Author: Thomas Cronin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780674330078
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description


The Initiative and Referendum in California, 1898-1998

The Initiative and Referendum in California, 1898-1998 PDF Author: John M. Allswang
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804780072
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
This book provides a detailed analytic history of direct legislation—the initiative and referendum—in California from its origins in the late nineteenth century to the present day. California was one of the first states to implement mechanisms for direct legislation, and these mechanisms have been used with growing frequency as the entire process has become professionalized (from signature-gathering through fund-raising to legal challenge and defense). The author studies this important political device in terms of voter interest and behavior, its role in public issues, and how it has affected the state’s politics and government. The book first analyzes how and why direct legislation came to California, seeing it as a typical example of the disconnected nature of progressive era reforms. It then studies selectively, from among the 300 propositions that have been on California ballots, those propositions that have been most relevant to the major issues of their time, have generated the highest levels of voter interest and participation, and have shaped the development of state politics and government. The author pays particular attention to the explosion of direct legislation, in frequency and consequence, since the Proposition 13 “property tax revolution” of 1978. He also describes how California’s contemporary direct legislation experience—from tax rebellion to harsher criminal justice to controversial ethnic issues—has had national ramifications. The book concludes with a careful analysis of the current state of the initiative and referendum in California: voter attitudes toward the process, its role as a “fourth branch” of government, and arguments for and against changes in the procedure. Based on extensive research in campaign documents, manuscript collections, the contemporary press, and other primary sources, the book also makes extensive use of voting data, public opinion polls, and official filings of campaign expenditures. All in all, it is the most comprehensive study ever made of a political process that is used today in twenty-seven states.

Educated by Initiative

Educated by Initiative PDF Author: Daniel A. Smith
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472024256
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
"This body of research not only passes academic muster but is the best guidepost in existence for activists who are trying to use the ballot initiative process for larger policy and political objectives." --Kristina Wilfore, Executive Director, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and Foundation Educated by Initiative moves beyond previous evaluations of public policy to emphasize the educational importance of the initiative process itself. Since a majority of ballots ultimately fail or get overturned by the courts, Smith and Tolbert suggest that the educational consequences of initiative voting may be more important than the outcomes of the ballots themselves. The result is a fascinating and thoroughly-researched book about how direct democracy teaches citizens about politics, voting, civic engagement and the influence of special interests and political parties. Designed to be accessible to anyone interested in the future of American democracy, the book includes boxes (titled "What Matters") that succinctly summarize the authors' data into easily readable analyses. Daniel A. Smith is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. Caroline J. Tolbert is Associate Professor of Political Science at Kent State University.

The Browns of California

The Browns of California PDF Author: Miriam Pawel
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1632867338
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 523

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Book Description
"Miriam Pawel’s fascinating book . . . illuminates the sea change in the nation’s politics in the last half of the 20th century."--New York Times Book Review California Book Award Gold Medal Winner * Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize * A Los Angeles Times Bestseller * San Francisco Chronicle's "Best Books of the Year" List * Publishers Weekly Top Ten History Books for Fall * Berkeleyside Best Books of the Year * Shortlisted for NCIBA Golden Poppy Award A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist's panoramic history of California and its impact on the nation, from the Gold Rush to Silicon Valley--told through the lens of the family dynasty that led the state for nearly a quarter century. Even in the land of reinvention, the story is exceptional: Pat Brown, the beloved father who presided over California during an era of unmatched expansion; Jerry Brown, the cerebral son who became the youngest governor in modern times--and then returned three decades later as the oldest. In The Browns of California, journalist and scholar Miriam Pawel weaves a narrative history that spans four generations, from August Schuckman, the Prussian immigrant who crossed the Plains in 1852 and settled on a northern California ranch, to his great-grandson Jerry Brown, who reclaimed the family homestead one hundred forty years later. Through the prism of their lives, we gain an essential understanding of California and an appreciation of its importance. The magisterial story is enhanced by dozens of striking photos, many published for the first time. This book gives new insights to those steeped in California history, offers a corrective for those who confuse stereotypes and legend for fact, and opens new vistas for readers familiar with only the sketchiest outlines of a place habitually viewed from afar with a mix of envy and awe, disdain, and fascination.

Initiative and Referendum Voting

Initiative and Referendum Voting PDF Author: Richard Braunstein
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Braunsteins work explores all aspects of initiative and referendum voting, including the subject matter of proposed laws, their potential costs and benefits, ballot issue campaign finance, and the electoral success for each initiative in California, Colorado, and South Dakota. He tests the validity of competing claims that direct democracy is either the bane of democratic publics or their safeguard. His conclusions demonstrate that voters are more sophisticated than many commentators think, that voting behavior reflects a preference for measures with widely accessible benefits, and that inclusive public policy can result from ballot issue elections even those funded by organized interests. These findings challenge a perception that special interests, professional consultants, and governing elites dominate direct democracy.

Direct Primary Law

Direct Primary Law PDF Author: California
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Election law
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description


California Crackup

California Crackup PDF Author: Joe Mathews
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520268520
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
"California Crackup is brilliant. It cuts through the familiar tangle of diagnoses and quick-fix solutions to provide a comprehensive and persuasive analysis of California's dysfunctional governmental system. Paul and Mathews have coolly laid out a complicated story, made it readable, sometimes even comedic. It is the best discussion of the issue I've seen in over three decades."--Peter Schrag, author of California: America's High-Stakes Experiment "I know of no other work that combines so succinctly and enjoyably a historical summary of California's existing problems with such a sweeping and provocative program of reform."--Ethan Rarick, University of California, Berkeley "Mark Paul and Joe Mathews have produced an indispensable guide to California's crisis of governance--and they have done so with humor, scholarship, fairness and storytelling verve. Every Californian should read this book."--Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars "Mark Paul... has a talent for presenting California Big Think stuff in an easily accessible and always readable way...[offering] clear and creative insights on the subject of California's collapse."--CalBuzz "Joe Mathews has done an artful, fascinating, and convincing job of connecting the California of today's Schwarzenegger era to the long history that made his rise possible.--James Fallows,The Atlantic Monthly on Mathews' book, The People's Machine

Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy

Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy PDF Author: David Altman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108496636
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
Offers a comparative study of the origins, performance, and reform of contemporary mechanisms of direct democracy.