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Investigating American Democracy
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Book Synopsis Investigating American Democracy by : Thomas K. Lindsay
Download or read book Investigating American Democracy written by Thomas K. Lindsay and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave."--Thomas Jefferson From its very beginning, American government has been a continuously evolving and contentious enterprise defined by profound questions like "Who has the right to vote, on what, and why?" "Why does American democracy separate the powers of government?" and "What do our persistent debates over religion, citizenship, and law reveal about the nature of American democracy?" Addressing these and five other vital questions, Investigating American Democracy: Readings on Core Questions is ideal for a variety of courses in American politics. Each chapter opens with a core question that leads into readings reflecting conflicting views on that question. This "point-counterpoint" approach helps students to critically evaluate and compare the readings and to form their own opinions on each issue. Ranging from the founding of the country to the present day, the selections include writings and speeches from such illustrious historical figures as Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jane Addams, and Franklin D. Roosevelt alongside work from more contemporary political leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr., Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, John Ashcroft (Bush administration Patriot Act), and Barack Obama. Considerable sections of important Supreme Court opinions are also included. The editors provide "Guiding Questions" for each reading and extensive historical background for each chapter and reading. An Instructor's Manual containing test-bank questions is available to adopters.
Book Synopsis Crucible of American Democracy by : Andrew Shankman
Download or read book Crucible of American Democracy written by Andrew Shankman and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguments over what democracy actually meant in practice and how it should be implemented raged throughout the early American republic. This exploration of the Pennsylvania experience reveals how democracy arose in America and how it came to accommodate capitalism.
Book Synopsis The Institutions of American Democracy by : Geneva Overholser
Download or read book The Institutions of American Democracy written by Geneva Overholser and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-05-26 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American democracy is built on its institutions. The Congress, the presidency, and the judiciary, in particular, undergird the rights and responsibilities of every citizen. The free press, for example, protected by the First Amendment, allows for the dissent so necessary in a democracy. How has this institution changed since the nation's founding? And what can we, as leaders, policymakers, and citizens, do to keep it vital?The freedom of the press is an essential element of American democracy. With the guidance of editors Geneva Overholser and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, this volume examines the role of the press in a democracy, investigating alternative models used throughout world history to better understand how the American press has evolved into what it is today. The commission also examines ways to allow more voices to be heard and to improve the institution of the American free press.The Press, a collection of essays by the nation's leading journalism scholars and professionals, will examine the history, identity, roles, and future of the American press, with an emphasis on topics of concern to both practitioners and consumers of American media.
Book Synopsis The Institutions of American Democracy by : Geneva Overholser
Download or read book The Institutions of American Democracy written by Geneva Overholser and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-05-26 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American democracy is built on its institutions. The Congress, the presidency, and the judiciary, in particular, undergird the rights and responsibilities of every citizen. The free press, for example, protected by the First Amendment, allows for the dissent so necessary in a democracy. How has this institution changed since the nation's founding? And what can we, as leaders, policymakers, and citizens, do to keep it vital? The freedom of the press is an essential element of American democracy. With the guidance of editors Geneva Overholser and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, this volume examines the role of the press in a democracy, investigating alternative models used throughout world history to better understand how the American press has evolved into what it is today. The commission also examines ways to allow more voices to be heard and to improve the institution of the American free press. The Press, a collection of essays by the nation's leading journalism scholars and professionals, will examine the history, identity, roles, and future of the American press, with an emphasis on topics of concern to both practitioners and consumers of American media.
Book Synopsis Governing Through Crime by : Jonathan Simon
Download or read book Governing Through Crime written by Jonathan Simon and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-02-03 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Across America today gated communities sprawl out from urban centers, employers enforce mandatory drug testing, and schools screen students with metal detectors. Social problems ranging from welfare dependency to educational inequality have been reconceptualized as crimes, with an attendant focus on assigning fault and imposing consequences. Even before the recent terrorist attacks, non-citizen residents had become subject to an increasingly harsh regime of detention and deportation, and prospective employees subjected to background checks. How and when did our everyday world become dominated by fear, every citizen treated as a potential criminal?In this startlingly original work, Jonathan Simon traces this pattern back to the collapse of the New Deal approach to governing during the 1960s when declining confidence in expert-guided government policies sent political leaders searching for new models of governance. The War on Crime offered a ready solution to their problem: politicians set agendas by drawing analogies to crime and redefined the ideal citizen as a crime victim, one whose vulnerabilities opened the door to overweening government intervention. By the 1980s, this transformation of the core powers of government had spilled over into the institutions that govern daily life. Soon our schools, our families, our workplaces, and our residential communities were being governed through crime.This powerful work concludes with a call for passive citizens to become engaged partners in the management of risk and the treatment of social ills. Only by coming together to produce security, can we free ourselves from a logic of domination by others, and from the fear that currently rules our everyday life.
Book Synopsis Mobilization, Representation, and Responsiveness in the American Democracy by : Michael T. Oswald
Download or read book Mobilization, Representation, and Responsiveness in the American Democracy written by Michael T. Oswald and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2020-10-23 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume investigates America’s transforming democracy as it faces the challenges and developments of the 21st century—challenges and developments that have brought deep dissatisfaction, cultural fragmentation, and economic indignation. Although political power remains in the hands of the people, a fundamental incapability to compromise has locked policymakers in a permanent stalemate. In this legislative paralysis, grassroots movements build more and more momentum amidst regular protests and civil disobedience. This new political vigor and dynamism is dualistic, portending either a future of falsehoods and authoritarianism or a more empowering and direct form of democracy. This book ultimately seeks to understand how the US government is frantically adjusting to these sharp cultural, technological, and economic changes.
Book Synopsis Why Religion Is Good for American Democracy by : Robert Wuthnow
Download or read book Why Religion Is Good for American Democracy written by Robert Wuthnow and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the actions and advocacy of diverse religious communities in the United States have supported democracy’s development during the past century Does religion benefit democracy? Robert Wuthnow says yes. In Why Religion Is Good for American Democracy, Wuthnow makes his case by moving beyond the focus on unifying values or narratives about culture wars and elections. Rather, he demonstrates that the beneficial contributions of religion are best understood through the lens of religious diversity. The religious composition of the United States comprises many groups, organizations, and individuals that vigorously, and sometimes aggressively, contend for what they believe to be good and true. Unwelcome as this contention can be, it is rarely extremist, violent, or autocratic. Instead, it brings alternative and innovative perspectives to the table, forcing debates about what it means to be a democracy. Wuthnow shows how American religious diversity works by closely investigating religious advocacy spanning the past century: during the Great Depression, World War II, the civil rights movement, the debates about welfare reform, the recent struggles for immigrant rights and economic equality, and responses to the coronavirus pandemic. The engagement of religious groups in advocacy and counteradvocacy has sharpened arguments about authoritarianism, liberty of conscience, freedom of assembly, human dignity, citizens’ rights, equality, and public health. Wuthnow hones in on key principles of democratic governance and provides a hopeful yet realistic appraisal of what religion can and cannot achieve. At a time when many observers believe American democracy to be in dire need of revitalization, Why Religion Is Good for American Democracy illustrates how religious groups have contributed to this end and how they might continue to do so despite the many challenges faced by the nation.
Download or read book Democracy written by James Laxer and published by Groundwood Books Ltd. This book was released on 2009 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An international manifesto on democracy traces its evolution and the ways in which women and minorities have historically fought to win democratic rights, in an account that describes successful implementations of democracy in formerly oppressed regions, clarifies common misconceptions, and warns of the dangers of widening economic gaps. Simultaneous.
Book Synopsis American Democracy in Peril by : William E. Hudson
Download or read book American Democracy in Peril written by William E. Hudson and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2016-01-28 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this Eighth Edition of American Democracy in Peril, author William E. Hudson provides a perceptive analysis of the challenges our democracy faces in the current era: economic crisis, partisan gridlock, rising economic inequality, and continued military conflict in the Middle East and elsewhere. By introducing the history of democratic theory in terms of four “models” of democracy, he provides readers with a set of criteria against which to evaluate the challenges discussed later. This provocative book offers a structured, yet critical examination of the American political system, designed to stimulate students to consider how the facts they learn about American politics relate to democratic ideals.
Book Synopsis Democracy in America (Complete) by : Alexis de Tocqueville
Download or read book Democracy in America (Complete) written by Alexis de Tocqueville and published by Library of Alexandria. This book was released on 2020-09-28 with total page 1320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions. I readily discovered the prodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed. I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated. I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I imagined that I discerned something analogous to the spectacle which the New World presented to me. I observed that the equality of conditions is daily progressing towards those extreme limits which it seems to have reached in the United States, and that the democracy which governs the American communities appears to be rapidly rising into power in Europe. I hence conceived the idea of the book which is now before the reader. It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is going on amongst us; but there are two opinions as to its nature and consequences. To some it appears to be a novel accident, which as such may still be checked; to others it seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history. Let us recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided amongst a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the family inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only means by which man could act on man, and landed property was the sole source of power. Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was founded, and began to exert itself: the clergy opened its ranks to all classes, to the poor and the rich, the villein and the lord; equality penetrated into the Government through the Church, and the being who as a serf must have vegetated in perpetual bondage took his place as a priest in the midst of nobles, and not infrequently above the heads of kings. The different relations of men became more complicated and more numerous as society gradually became more stable and more civilized. Thence the want of civil laws was felt; and the order of legal functionaries soon rose from the obscurity of the tribunals and their dusty chambers, to appear at the court of the monarch, by the side of the feudal barons in their ermine and their mail. Whilst the kings were ruining themselves by their great enterprises, and the nobles exhausting their resources by private wars, the lower orders were enriching themselves by commerce. The influence of money began to be perceptible in State affairs. The transactions of business opened a new road to power, and the financier rose to a station of political influence in which he was at once flattered and despised. Gradually the spread of mental acquirements, and the increasing taste for literature and art, opened chances of success to talent; science became a means of government, intelligence led to social power, and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the State. The value attached to the privileges of birth decreased in the exact proportion in which new paths were struck out to advancement. In the eleventh century nobility was beyond all price; in the thirteenth it might be purchased; it was conferred for the first time in 1270; and equality was thus introduced into the Government by the aristocracy itself.
Book Synopsis Uniting America by : Norton Garfinkle
Download or read book Uniting America written by Norton Garfinkle and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Uniting America, some of the country’s most prominent social thinkers—among them Francis Fukuyama, Daniel Yankelovich, Amitai Etzioni, Alan Wolfe, Uwe Reinhardt, and Thomas E. Mann—reject the myth of polarization. On topics ranging from the war on terrorism, health care, economic policy, and Social Security to religion, diversity, and immigration, the authors argue that there are sensible, centrist solutions that are more in keeping with prevailing public sentiment and that would better serve the national interest. On issue after issue, the authors show how the conventional framing of the debate in Washington has misled Americans, creating a series of false dilemmas and forcing choices between two extremes—at the expense of more balanced and pragmatic policy solutions based on enduring American values. Uniting America provides a blueprint for a fresh approach to American politics, grounded in moderation, pragmatism, and the shared values that unite Americans.
Book Synopsis For Might and Right by : Michael Brenes
Download or read book For Might and Right written by Michael Brenes and published by Culture and Politics in the Company. This book was released on 2020 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did the global Cold War influence American politics at home? For Might and Right traces the story of how Cold War defense spending remade participatory politics, producing a powerful and dynamic political coalition that reached across party lines. This "Cold War coalition" favored massive defense spending over social welfare programs, bringing together a diverse array of actors from across the nation, including defense workers, community boosters, military contractors, current and retired members of the armed services, activists, and politicians. Faced with neoliberal austerity and uncertainty surrounding America's foreign policy after the 1960s, increased military spending became a bipartisan solution to create jobs and stimulate economic growth, even in the absence of national security threats. Using a rich array of archival sources, Michael Brenes draws important connections between economic inequality and American militarism that enhance our understanding of the Cold War's continued impact on American democracy and the resilience of the military-industrial complex, up to the age of Donald Trump.
Download or read book Remaking America written by Joe Soss and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2007-11-08 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past three decades, the contours of American social, economic, and political life have changed dramatically. The post-war patterns of broadly distributed economic growth have given way to stark inequalities of income and wealth, the GOP and its allies have gained power and shifted U.S. politics rightward, and the role of government in the lives of Americans has changed fundamentally. Remaking America explores how these trends are related, investigating the complex interactions of economics, politics, and public policy. Remaking America explains how the broad restructuring of government policy has both reflected and propelled major shifts in the character of inequality and democracy in the United States. The contributors explore how recent political and policy changes affect not just the social standing of Americans but also the character of democratic citizenship in the United States today. Lawrence Jacobs shows how partisan politics, public opinion, and interest groups have shaped the evolution of Medicare, but also how Medicare itself restructured health politics in America. Kimberly Morgan explains how highly visible tax policies created an opportunity for conservatives to lead a grassroots tax revolt that ultimately eroded of the revenues needed for social-welfare programs. Deborah Stone explores how new policies have redefined participation in the labor force—as opposed to fulfilling family or civic obligations—as the central criterion of citizenship. Frances Fox Piven explains how low-income women remain creative and vital political actors in an era in which welfare programs increasingly subject them to stringent behavioral requirements and monitoring. Joshua Guetzkow and Bruce Western document the rise of mass incarceration in America and illuminate its unhealthy effects on state social-policy efforts and the civic status of African-American men. For many disadvantaged Americans who used to look to government as a source of opportunity and security, the state has become increasingly paternalistic and punitive. Far from standing alone, their experience reflects a broader set of political victories and policy revolutions that have fundamentally altered American democracy and society. Empirically grounded and theoretically informed, Remaking America connects the dots to provide insight into the remarkable social and political changes of the last three decades.
Book Synopsis 100 Key Documents in American Democracy by : Peter B. Levy
Download or read book 100 Key Documents in American Democracy written by Peter B. Levy and published by Praeger. This book was released on 1999-03-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent scholarship, and a list of suggested readings. Forty-seven illustrations complement the text.
Book Synopsis The U.S. Constitution by : Carla Mooney
Download or read book The U.S. Constitution written by Carla Mooney and published by Nomad Press. This book was released on 2016-09-19 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where did the American democratic tradition begin? From ancient civilizations in Greece and Rome to the Enlightenment in Europe, democratic ideas throughout time have influenced the development of democracy in the United States. In The U.S. Constitution: Discover How Democracy Works, children ages 9 through 12 learn about the foundation of democracy and how the documents crafted hundreds of years ago still have an impact on our country today. They explore the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, among others. These documents provide a framework with which we make the laws and processes that help keep democracy a vital paradigm. Through hands-on projects, which include analyzing how the promises made in the Preamble of the Constitution were put into practice and investigating how to balance the freedom of speech in the digital age, students investigate how American democracy operates. With colorful illustrations, interesting sidebars, and links to online primary sources, this book asks readers to consider the effect of technology on democracy and make predictions about future documents that will be important to the preservation of democracy around the world.
Book Synopsis How Democracies Die by : Steven Levitsky
Download or read book How Democracies Die written by Steven Levitsky and published by Crown. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Time • Foreign Affairs • WBUR • Paste Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one. Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved. Praise for How Democracies Die “What we desperately need is a sober, dispassionate look at the current state of affairs. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two of the most respected scholars in the field of democracy studies, offer just that.”—The Washington Post “Where Levitsky and Ziblatt make their mark is in weaving together political science and historical analysis of both domestic and international democratic crises; in doing so, they expand the conversation beyond Trump and before him, to other countries and to the deep structure of American democracy and politics.”—Ezra Klein, Vox “If you only read one book for the rest of the year, read How Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . . The best commentary on our politics, no contest.”—Michael Morrell, former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (via Twitter) “A smart and deeply informed book about the ways in which democracy is being undermined in dozens of countries around the world, and in ways that are perfectly legal.”—Fareed Zakaria, CNN
Book Synopsis The Emerging Democratic Majority by : John B. Judis
Download or read book The Emerging Democratic Majority written by John B. Judis and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2004-02-10 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR AND A WINNER OF THE WASHINGTON MONTHLY'S ANNUAL POLITICAL BOOK AWARD Political experts John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira convincingly use hard data -- demographic, geographic, economic, and political -- to forecast the dawn of a new progressive era. In the 1960s, Kevin Phillips, battling conventional wisdom, correctly foretold the dawn of a new conservative era. His book, The Emerging Republican Majority, became an indispensable guide for all those attempting to understand political change through the 1970s and 1980s. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, with the country in Republican hands, The Emerging Democratic Majority is the indispensable guide to this era. In five well-researched chapters and a new afterword covering the 2002 elections, Judis and Teixeira show how the most dynamic and fastest-growing areas of the country are cultivating a new wave of Democratic voters who embrace what the authors call "progressive centrism" and take umbrage at Republican demands to privatize social security, ban abortion, and cut back environmental regulations. As the GOP continues to be dominated by neoconservatives, the religious right, and corporate influence, this is an essential volume for all those discontented with their narrow agenda -- and a clarion call for a new political order.
