[PDF] Democratic Elitism eBook

Author : Heinrich Best
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 247 pages
File Size : 18,15 MB
Release : 2010
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9004179399

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Joseph Schumpeter's competitive theory of democracy often labeled democratic elitism - has struck many as an apt and insightful description of how representative democracy works, even though convinced democrats detect an elitist thrust they find disturbing. But neither Schumpeter nor subsequent defenders of democratic elitism have paid enough attention to actual behaviors of leaders and elites. Attention has been riveted on how adequately democratic elitism captures the relationship between governors and governed in its insistence that competitive elections prevent the relationship from being one-way, that is, leaders and elites largely unaccountable to passive and submissive voters. Why and how leaders and elites create and sustain competitive elections, what happens if their competitions become excessively stage-managed or belligerent how, in short, leaders and elites really act - are some of the issues this book addresses.

Author : Timothy Kersey
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 136 pages
File Size : 43,53 MB
Release : 2016-01-08
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1317928288

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Today, examples of the public’s engagement with political issues through commercial and communicative mechanisms have become increasingly common. In February 2012, the Susan G. Komen Foundation reversed a decision to cease funding of cancer screening programs through Planned Parenthood amidst massive public disapproval. The same year, restaurant chain Chic-fil-A became embroiled in a massive public debate over statements its President made regarding same-sex marriage. What exactly is going on in such public engagement, and how does this relate to existing ideas regarding the public sphere and political participation? Is the public becoming increasingly vocal in its complaints? Or are new relationships between the public and economic and political leaders emerging? Timothy Kersey’s book asserts that the widespread utilization of internet communications technologies, especially social media applications, has brought forth a variety of new communicative behaviors and relationships within liberal polities. Through quick and seemingly chaotic streams of networked communication, the actions of these elites are subject to increasingly intense scrutiny and short-term pressure to ameliorate or at least address the concerns of segments of the population. By examining these new patterns of behavior among both elites and the general public, Kersey unearths the implications of these patterns for contemporary democratic theory, and argues that contemporary conceptualizations of "the public’" need to be modified to more accurately reflect practices of online communication and participation. By engaging with this topical issue, Kersey is able to closely examine the self-organization of both elite and non-elite segments of the population within the realm of networked communication, and the relations and interactions between these segments. His book combines perspectives from political theory and communication studies and so will be widely relevant across both disciplines.

Author : Peter Bachrach
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 10,98 MB
Release : 2017-07-05
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1351498940

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One of the potentially explosive issues of the modern era is a vast and growing disparity between the overwhelming predominance of elites in the decision-making process and the democratic ideal that people should participate in making decisions that vitally affect them. In this book an impressive array of political theorists offer conflicting views on the form of democratic elitism practiced in the United States.Defining the political elite as "the power holders of the body politic," Harold Lasswell explains that the division into elite and mass is universal, while Robert Dahl confirms that key political, economic, and social decisions are indeed made by these tiny minorities. Paul Good man argues that we are now in a period of excessive centralization that he regards as "economically inefficient, technologically unnecessary, and humanly damaging." From another standpoint, Herbert Marcuse calls for a struggle against the ideology of tolerance husbanded by the political elites in this country and Jack L. Walker contends that elitist theory has provided an unconvincing explanation of the widespread political apathy in American society.As the events of recent decades vividly demonstrate, a growing number of people refuse to recognize elite rule. This many-sided work puts before the student a variety of strongly held opinions regarding the place and function of the political elite and its power. The wide range of authoritative articles makes Political Elites in a Democracy a most useful addition to every course in political science that touches on the subject of elites and political power.

Author : Peter Bachrach
Publisher :
Page : 134 pages
File Size : 40,17 MB
Release : 1980
Category : Democracy
ISBN :

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To find out more information about Rowman & Littlefield titles please visit us at www.rowmanlittlefield.com.

Author : Alfred Moore
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 50,69 MB
Release : 2017-06-22
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1107194520

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This book re-imagines expert authority for an age of critical citizens, and shows how expertise can contribute in a deliberative system.

Author : Giuseppe Tosi
Publisher : Editora CRV
Page : 343 pages
File Size : 20,62 MB
Release : 2024-02-21
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 6525158249

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Democracy is a concept so worn out by intensive use and polysemy of meanings, and at the same time so essential to contemporary political theory and practice, that it deserves to be recurrently revisited and reinterpreted. That's what we want to do in this book, raising some questions and confronting different theories about democracy, without any claim to completeness. Our objective is not to cover the entire discussion about democracy, but to restrict itself to the debate between democracy and elitism. Our central working hypothesis is that a compromise between democratic and elitist theory is possible, through the so-called democratic elitism, which embraces elements of both theories and promotes a synthesis. From this perspective, democracy, realistically, is not the "government of the people, by the people, and for the people", but the government of elites by competing among themselves for popular consensus, to achieve power. This does not mean denying the possibility of popular participation if this is understood not as an alternative to representative democracy, but as its necessary complement. This thesis is developed through a history of the main concepts in dispute: people, elite, government, citizenship, representative, direct, plebiscitary, participatory democracy, which change according to different historical, political, economic and social contexts.

Author : Giorgio Volpe
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 266 pages
File Size : 11,48 MB
Release : 2021-03-15
Category : History
ISBN : 1000362329

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This book deals with the reception of Italian elitism in the United States, identifying its key protagonists, phases, and themes. It starts from the reconstruction of the scientific and political debates aroused in the United States by the works of Mosca, Pareto, and Michels, and moves on to define their theoretical influence in the American scientific and academic contexts. The analysis takes into consideration the period from the first contact between elitists and American academia in the early 1920s to the publication of The Power Elite by Mills, in 1956, which marks the emancipation of American elitism. After introducing the fundamental principles of elite theory, the first part of the study reconstructs the debate that it aroused beyond the Atlantic. The second part examines the original American reworking of the elitist lesson, concentrating on the works of the authors most strongly influenced by it: Joseph A. Schumpeter, Harold D. Lasswell, and Charles W. Mills. The book aims to shed light on the contribution of Italian elitism to the development of American political thought.