Author: W. Russell Neuman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674654600
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
A central current in the history of democratic politics is the tensions between the political culture of an informed citizenry and the potentially antidemocratic impulses of the larger mass of individuals who are only marginally involved in the political world. Given the public's low level of political interest and knowledge, it is paradoxical that the democratic system works at all. In The Paradox of Mass Politics W. Russell Neuman analyzes the major election surveys in the United States for the period 1948-1980 and develops for each a central index of political sophistication based on measures of political interest, knowledge, and style of political conceptualization. Taking a fresh look at the dramatic findings of public apathy and ignorance, he probes the process by which citizens acquire political knowledge and the impact of their knowledge on voting behavior. The book challenges the commonly held view that politically oriented college-educated individuals have a sophisticated grasp of the fundamental political issues of the day and do not rely heavily on vague political symbolism and party identification in their electoral calculus. In their expression of political opinions and in the stability and coherence of those opinions over time, the more knowledgeable half of the population, Neuman concludes, is almost indistinguishable from the other half. This is, in effect, a second paradox closely related to the first. In an attempt to resolve a major and persisting paradox of political theory, Neuman develops a model of three publics, which more accurately portrays the distribution of political knowledge and behavior in the mass population. He identifies a stratum of apoliticals, a large middle mass, and a politically sophisticated elite. The elite is so small (less than 5 percent) that the beliefs and behavior of its member are lost in the large random samples of national election surveys, but so active and articulate that its views are often equated with public opinion at large by the powers in Washington. The key to the paradox of mass politics is the activity of this tiny stratum of persons who follow political issues with care and expertise. This book is essential reading for concerned students of American politics, sociology, public opinion, and mass communication.
Author: Deborah A. Stone
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342
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Book Description
Includes index.
Author: William E. Connolly
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 9781452906041
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 284
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Book Description
Author: Deborah Stone
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Author: Rob Christensen
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807899631
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372
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Book Description
How can a state be represented by Jesse Helms and John Edwards at the same time? Journalist Rob Christensen answers that question and navigates a century of political history in North Carolina, one of the most politically vibrant and competitive southern states, where neither conservatives nor liberals, Democrats nor Republicans, have been able to rest easy. It is this climate of competition and challenge, Christensen argues, that enabled North Carolina to rise from poverty in the nineteenth century to become a leader in research, education, and banking in the twentieth. In this new paperback edition, Christensen provides updated coverage of recent changes in North Carolina's political landscape, including the scandals surrounding John Edwards and Mike Easley, the defeat of U.S. senator Elizabeth Dole, the election of the state's first woman governor, and voters' approval of an African American candidate for president. The book provides an overview of the run-up to the 2010 elections and explains how North Carolina has become, arguably, the most politically competitive state in the South.
Author: Jacob Howland
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780847689767
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 376
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Book Description
An examination of Socrates' trial as played out in the Apology, Theaetetus, Euthyphro, Cratylus, Sophist, and Statesman. Finding that the heart of the dialogues is the rivalry between the characters of the Stranger of Elea and Socrates, the author devotes a chapter to each dialogue and explores the Stranger of Elea's criticism that the uncompromising pursuit of knowledge conflicts with the task of weaving together humans into a political community. The melding of the arguments of Socrates and the Stranger of Elea, the author suggests, is the best path to understanding Plato's political philosophy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Author: John B. Judis
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 0804150621
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 391
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Book Description
John B. Judis, one of our most insightful political commentators, most rational and careful thinkers, and most engaged witnesses in Washington, has taken on a challenge that even the most concerned American citizens shrink from: forecasting the American political climate at the turn of the century. The Paradox of American Democracy is a penetrating examination of our democracy that illuminates the forces and institutions that once enlivened it and now threaten to undermine it. It is the well-reasoned discussion we need in this era of unrestrained expert opinions and ideologically biased testimony. The disenchantment with our political system can be seen in decreasing voter turnout, political parties co-opted by consultants and large contributors, the corrupting influence of "soft money," and concern for national welfare subverted by lobbying organizations and special-interest groups. Judis revisits particular moments—the Progressive Era, the New Deal, the 1960s—to discover what makes democracy the most efficacious and, consequently, most inefficacious. What has worked in the past is a balancing act between groups of elites—trade commissions, labor relations boards, policy groups—whose mandates are to act in the national interest and whose actions are governed by a disinterested pursuit of the common good. Judis explains how the displacment of such elites by a new lobbying community in Whashington has given rise to the cynicism that corrodes the current political system. The Paradox of American Democracy goes straight to the heart of every political debate in this country.
Author: Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520302567
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 373
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Book Description
The Trump Paradox: Migration, Trade, and Racial Politics in US-Mexico Integration explores one of the most complex and unequal cross-border relations in the world, in light of both a twenty-first-century political economy and the rise of Donald Trump. Despite the trillion-plus dollar contribution of Latinos to the US GDP, political leaders have paradoxically stirred racial resentment around immigrants just as immigration from Mexico has reached net zero. With a roster of state-of-the-art scholars from both Mexico and the US, The Trump Paradox explores a dilemma for a divided nation such as the US: in order for its economy to continue flourishing, it needs immigrants and trade.
Author: Chantal Mouffe
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1789604710
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 154
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Book Description
From the theory of 'deliberative democracy' to the politics of the 'third way', the present Zeitgeist is characterized by attempts to deny what Chantal Mouffe contends is the inherently conflictual nature of democratic politics. Far from being signs of progress, such ideas constitute a serious threat to democratic institutions. Taking issue with John Rawls and Jrgen Habermas on one side, and the political tenets of Blair, Clinton and Schrder on the other, Mouffe brings to the fore the paradoxical nature of modern liberal democracy in which the category of the 'adversary' plays a central role. She draws on the work of Wittgenstein, Derrida, and the provocative theses of Carl Schmitt, to propose a new understanding of democracy which acknowledges the ineradicability of antagonism in its workings.
Author: Deborah A. Stone
Publisher: W. W. Norton
ISBN: 9780393968576
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 394
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Book Description
Since its debut, Policy Paradox has been widely acclaimed as the most accessible policy text available.
