Why Bother With Elections?
Kaup valmöguleikar
With the collapse of traditional parties around the world and with many pundits predicting a "crisis of democracy", the value of elections as a method for selecting by whom and how we are governed is being questioned. What are the virtues and weaknesses of elections? Are there limitations to what they can realistically achieve? In this deeply informed book world-renowned democratic theorist Adam Przeworski offers a warts-and-all analysis of elections and the ways in which they affect our lives.
Elections, he argues, are inherently imperfect but they remain the least bad way of choosing our rulers. According to Przeworski, the greatest value of elections, by itself sufficient to cherish them, is that they process whatever conflicts may arise in society in a way that maintains relative liberty and peace. Whether they succeed in doing so in today's turbulent political climate remains to be seen.
Nánar um bókina
- Polity
- 9781509526635
- 9781509526604
- ePub
- 1
- Adam Przeworski
- English
- 01/2018
- 100
- 10
- 2
Kaflar
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I: How Elections Work
- 2 The Idea of Electing Governments
- Why Elections?
- The Spread of Elections
- The Myth of Self-Government through Elections
- Elections as Methods of Choosing Governments
- 3 Protecting Property
- Who Can Be Elected?
- Who Can Do the Electing?
- Filtering and Refining the People’s Voice
- Super-Majoritarian Institutions
- Counter-Majoritarian Institutions
- Conquests, Reversals, and Substitutions
- 4 Jockeying for Partisan Advantage
- Voting and Electing: Opposition
- Instruments at the Disposal of Incumbents
- Competitive and Non-Competitive Elections
- 5 Conclusion: What is Inherent in Elections?
- Part II: What Elections Can and Cannot Achieve
- 6 Introduction to Part II
- 7 Rationality
- Common Interests
- Divergent Interests
- Conclusion
- 8 Representation, Accountability, and Control over Governments
- Prospective and Retrospective Control
- Control over Bureaucracy
- 9 Economic Performance
- 10 Economic and Social Equality
- Why We Can Expect Elections to Equalize Incomes
- Economic Inequality and Political Equality
- Political Inequality and Redistribution
- A Vicious Circle
- 11 Civil Peace
- Elections as a Method of Processing Conflicts
- Conditions for Peaceful Competitive Elections
- 12 Conclusions
- Elections and Democracy
- A Crisis of Democracy?
- Suggested Reading
- References
- End User License Agreement