Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government

by Christopher H. Achen, Larry M. Bartels, Christopher H. Achen (Afterword), Larry M. Bartels (Afterword)

Overview

Why our belief in government by the people is unrealistic—and what we can do about it

Democracy for Realists assails the romantic folk-theory at the heart of contemporary thinking about democratic politics and government, and offers a provocative alternative view grounded in the actual human nature of democratic citizens.

Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels deploy a wealth of social-scientific evidence, including ingenious original analyses of topics ranging from abortion politics and budget deficits to the Great Depression and shark attacks, to show that the familiar ideal of thoughtful citizens steering the ship of state from the voting booth is fundamentally misguided. They demonstrate that voters—even those who are well informed and politically engaged—mostly choose parties and candidates on the basis of social identities and partisan loyalties, not political issues. They also show that voters adjust their policy views and even their perceptions of basic matters of fact to match those loyalties. When parties are roughly evenly matched, elections often turn on irrelevant or misleading considerations such as economic spurts or downturns beyond the incumbents' control; the outcomes are essentially random. Thus, voters do not control the course of public policy, even indirectly.

Achen and Bartels argue that democratic theory needs to be founded on identity groups and political parties, not on the preferences of individual voters. Now with new analysis of the 2016 elections, Democracy for Realists provides a powerful challenge to conventional thinking, pointing the way toward a fundamentally different understanding of the realities and potential of democratic government.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691178240
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	08/29/2017
Series:	Princeton Studies in Political Behavior , #4
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	424
Sales rank:	158,747
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Christopher H. Achen is the Roger Williams Straus Professor of Social Sciences and professor of politics at Princeton University. His books include The European Union Decides. Larry M. Bartels holds the May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science at Vanderbilt University. His books include Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age (Princeton).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface xiii

1 Democratic Ideals and Realities 1

2 The Elusive Mandate: Elections and the Mirage of Popular Control 21

3 Tumbling Down into a Democratical Republick: “Pure Democracy” and the Pitfalls of Popular Control 52

4 A Rational God of Vengeance and of Reward? The Logic of Retrospective Accountability 90

5 Blind Retrospection: Electoral Responses to Droughts, Floods, and Shark Attacks 116

6 Musical Chairs: Economic Voting and the Specious Present 146

7 A Chicken in Every Pot: Ideology and Retrospection in the Great Depression 177

8 The Very Basis of Reasons: Groups, Social Identities, and Political Psychology 213

9 Partisan Hearts and Spleens: Social Identities and Political Change 232

10 It Feels Like We’re Thinking: The Rationalizing Voter 267

11 Groups and Power: Toward a Realist Theory of Democracy 297

appendix Retrospective Voting as Selection and Sanctioning 329

Afterword to the Paperback Edition 335

References 345

Index 381

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Two of America's smartest political scientists bid fair to transform our understanding of democracy. In our season of democratic discontent, this unsettling book could hardly be more timely. Must-reading for anyone interested in democratic theory and American politics."—Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community and Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis

"Democracy for Realists is the single most important treatise on American democracy published in several decades. Achen and Bartels challenge just about every existing school of thought about electoral politics, policymaking, and government performance. They do not conclude with a counsel of despair for the future of American democracy, but they give no quarter to any notion that responsive government is possible without a more responsible citizenry."—John DiIulio, University of Pennsylvania

"It is impossible to overstate the significance of this magnum opus on democracy and democratic theory. Achen and Bartels lay waste to the folk theory of democracy through dazzling logic and rigorous empirical analysis. Democracy for Realists will become an instant classic, shaping our thinking on democracy for decades to come."—Thomas E. Mann, Brookings Institution and the University of California, Berkeley

"It is common in the history of science for scholars to bark up the wrong trees. Achen and Bartels make a strong case that spatial models of mass elections and the theory of retrospective voting are examples of wrong trees. Scholars, they argue, should now reorient toward group attachments as the foundation of democratic politics. All in all, this is a broad, deeply thoughtful, and courageous book."—John Zaller, University of California, Los Angeles

"Not since the work of Walter Lippmann, David Truman, Philip Converse, and Robert Dahl have empirical democratic theorists made us think so deeply. Achen and Bartels demolish the folk theory of democracy in which politicians obtain mandates from rational voters. Instead, they propose an exciting new agenda that wrestles with the real democratic process in which political parties and interest groups fashion public policies to appeal to people's basic identities."—Henry E. Brady, coauthor of The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal Political Voice and the Broken Promise of American Democracy

"The most clear-eyed take on American democracy I have read in a long time."—Daniel W. Drezner, Tufts University

"The best book to understand the 2016 campaign."—Matthew Yglesias

"Democracy for Realists has the potential to become a classic. It raises questions that every democratic theorist and practitioner should take seriously. It is certain to provoke significant discussion."—Jane Mansbridge, Harvard University

"Democracy for Realists is a terrific book. It takes on big questions, is brimming with smart analysis and crisp argumentation, and the writing is elegant. There is pleasure and provocation on nearly every page. Achen and Bartels have made a major contribution to modern social science."—Donald R. Kinder, coauthor of The End of Race? Obama, 2008, and Racial Politics in America

Editorial Reviews

"Winner of the 2017 PROSE Award in Government & Politics, Association of American Publishers"

"Winner of the 2017 David O. Sears Book Award, International Society of Political Psychology"

"Winner of the 2017 Brian Farrell Book Prize, Political Studies Association of Ireland"

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2016

From the Publisher

"Their writing is clear, concise, and appropriately whimsical on occasion. Certain to become a classic."

Choice

This more than erudite book couldn't have been published at a more apt, if not fractious climate amid modern British and European political history. . . . Democracy for Realists will set minds thinking and trigger an array of debate; which, at the end of the day, is what democracy is all about.

David Marx Book Reviews

★ 2016-02-09
Why the theories used to rationalize our beliefs in democracy are broken beyond repair and must be replaced. "Conventional thinking about democracy," write Achen (Social Sciences and Politics/Princeton Univ.; co-author: The Statistical Analysis of Quasi-Experiments, 1987, etc.) and Bartels (Chair, Public Policy and Social Science/Vanderbilt Univ.; Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age, 2008, etc.), "has collapsed in the face of modern social-scientific research." The authors argue that rising inequality is a byproduct of this breakdown in the way democracy functions, and we desperately need reforms. Unfortunately, the demanded improvements are often unattainable, functioning merely as empty sloganeering. Inequality and insider power have increased over the years, and the politicians who benefit continue to expand their gains. Reformers often substitute increased emotional intensity of their demands for effective political strategies. Neither politicians nor citizens fully understand why this is so or how it can be addressed. As the authors note, campaign finance reform, reductions in income inequality, and the strengthening of equal protections would all be beneficial. Unfortunately, politicians are often not influenced by the people's will. Achen and Bartels combine a long-standing tradition of political criticism with intensive research into population behavior and beliefs. They show that results are not based on individual choices and deliberations but on notions of group identities. Citizens lack the time, inclination, and means to seriously consider issues that should be important but are usually ignored, and partisan loyalties shape—and are shaped by—racial, ethnic, religious, and familial identities. "We believe," write the authors, "that abandoning the folk theory of democracy is a prerequisite to both greater intellectual clarity and real political change. Too many democratic reformers have squandered their energy on misguided or quixotic ideas." A comprehensive analysis that lays the foundation for a discussion of necessary reforms and how they can be achieved.

Kirkus Reviews