Politics and Process: New Essays in Democratic Thought

by H. G. Brennan, Loren E. Lomasky

Overview

Much of the most interesting and controversial work in analyzing democratic institutions over the recent past has its intellectual origins in public choice economics. The analytical apparatus derived for the study of human behavior in markets is applied to a political setting. The electoral process is viewed as a kind of market in which the currency is votes and party competition is the primary mechanism by which the policies that citizens want are ensured. This book explores the advantages and problems with democratic institutions in a series of essays representing a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The public choice analysis provides a basis for deep-seated political skepticism with which widespread unquestioning enthusiasm for democracy must be confronted. Whether this is a challenge that proponents of democracy can meet is itself an interesting matter. No less interesting and important is the understanding of democracy and the refinement of political theorizing to which the challenge gives rise.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521023689
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/17/2005
Edition description:	Pbk Version ed.
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.06(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.59(d)
Lexile:	1470L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Introduction Geoffrey Brennan and Loren E. Lomasky; 1. The justification of democracy J. Roland Pennock; 2. Large numbers, small costs: the uneasy foundations of democratic rule Geoffrey Brennan and Loren E. Lomasky; 3. Evaluating the institutions of liberal democracy William Nelson; 4. Democracy: the public choice approach Dennis C. Mueller; 5. The democratic order and public choice Peter H. Aranson; 6. Radical federalism: responsiveness, conflict, and efficiency David Osterfeld; 7. Contractarian presuppositions and democratic governance James M. Buchanan; 8. In quest of the social contract James S. Fishkin; 9. Rationality and the justification of democracy Jules Coleman; 10. The morality of democracy and the rule of law Shirley Robin Letwin; Index.