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.

Product Description: This authoritative analysis introduces the key concepts used by contemporary political scientists. Rigorous, concise, and tightly argued, it makes use of everyday and historical examples to illustrate important and challenging conceptual material...read more

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Discusses the origins and theory of democracy, describes the institutions that develop in a working democratic system and the conditions that seem to lead to and result from democratic government, especially the positive and negative effects of a free-market economy, and offers suggestions for the future (view table of contents)

Product Description: Book by Dahl, Robert Alan

Product Description: For most of this century, the habit of thinking about politics and economics in terms of grand and simple alternatives has exerted a powerful influence over the minds of those concerned with economic organization. Politics, Economics, and Welfare is a systematic attack on the idea of all-embracing ideological solutions to complex economic problems...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: He aquí un análisis de los límites y las posibilidades de la democracia que, sin duda, se convertirá en un clásico de la literatura política del siglo XX. El autor se propone explicar en este texto algo que resulta sencillo sólo en apariencia: qué es la democracia y por qué es tan importante...read more

Discusses the history and nature of democracy, defends it against alternative forms of government, and suggests how it must change in the future (view table of contents)

Product Description: In this book, one of the world's most distinguished political scientists discusses the problems, strengths, and weaknesses of demography as a method of decision making for modern governments. Robert A Dahl examines the principles on which the authority of demographic government rests, the question of who "the people" should be in the concept of "rule by the people", and the kinds of demography that fit different situations...read more

Examines the conflict between liberty and equality and argues that worker-controlled corporations could provide a firm foundation for capitalism

Argues that decisions about nuclear weapons and strategy have escaped the control of the democratic process and discusses how to deal with complex issues in a democratic fashion

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