A new perspective on policy responsiveness in American government. Scholars of American politics have long been skeptical of ordinary citizens’ capacity to influence, let alone control, their governments. Drawing on over eight decades of state-level evidence on public opinion, elections, and policymaking, Devin Caughey and Christopher Warshaw pose a powerful challenge to this pessimistic view. Their research reveals that although American democracy cannot be taken for granted, state policymaking is far more responsive to citizens’ demands than skeptics claim. Although governments respond sluggishly in the short term, over the long term, electoral incentives induce state parties and politicians—and ultimately policymaking—to adapt to voters’ preferences The authors take an empirical and theoretical approach that allows them to assess democracy as a dynamic process. Their evidence across states and over time gives them new leverage to assess relevant outcomes and trends, including the evolution of mass partisanship, mass ideology, and the relationship between partisanship and ideology since the mid-twentieth century; the nationalization of state-level politics; the mechanisms through which voters hold incumbents accountable; the performance of moderate candidates relative to extreme candidates; and the quality of state-level democracy today relative to state-level democracy in other periods.

In A Great Duty>/I>L.B. Kuffert shows that the history of Canadian culture from the war to Canada's centenary is much richer and more complex than has previously been recognized. He looks at the responses of cultural critics to such topics as war, reconstruction, science, conformity, personality, and commemoration, catching outspoken observers in the act of synthesizing new interpretations of the contemporary world and protesting the dominance of mass-produced entertainment.English-Canadian cultural critics from across the political spectrum championed self-improvement, self-awareness, and lively engagement with one's surroundings, struggling to find a balance between the social benefits of democracy and modernization and what they considered the debilitating influence of the accompanying mass culture. They used print and broadcast media in an attempt to convince Canadians that choosing wisely between varieties of culture was an expression of personal and national identity, making cultural nationalism in Canada a "middlebrow" project. As Kuffert argues, "if English Canadians are today more familiar with the ways in which modern life and mass culture envelop and define them, if they live in a nation where private citizens and cultural institutions view the media as avenues of entertainment, as businesses, or as the means to construct identity, they should be aware of the role of wartime and post-war cultural critics" in creating those orientations toward culture.

Former MLA Nick Loenen examines what proportional representation can do for Canadian politics.

State organisation rethought Do you sometimes worry that you don't know which state agencies are responsible for you? And do you also wish to be asked before decisions are made about your everyday life? What political structures and processes does our society need today? This book tells us: ... how a division of executive, legislative, judicial and mediating power can look, in which the citizens decide - depending on necessity - which politicians are to be responsible for what and for how long. ... how the decision for direct, indirect or representative democracy can take into account the electoral fatigue or decisiveness of the population. ... which path everyone can follow until a critical mass comes together to support reforms and put them to a vote. After 20 years of work on this book series, Andreas Seidl thus ventures a step towards founding a party. In doing so, he entertains his readers both intellectually and visionarily. If this work can give you hope, inspire you or move you to action, it has fulfilled its purpose. Available in German and English

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)

In its first half century the United States was visited by scores of curious European travellers who came to investigate the strange new world that was being created in the Western Hemisphere. In their accounts of the experience they praised, or condemned, the institutions and national characteristics spread out before them, seized avidly upon all differences from the European norm, and worried each peculiarity beyond recognition and beyond any just limit of its importance. Americans themselves, with the keen sensitiveness of the young and the boasting enthusiasm natural to vigorous creators of new ideas and institutions, examined the work of their hands and, believing it good, reassured themselves and answered their calumniators in a flood of aggressive replies. Every American interested in a reform movement, a new cult, or a Utopian scheme burst into print, adding another to the rapidly growing list of polemic books and pamphlets. From this variety of sources, it is possible to recapture something of the inward spirit that gave rise to the more familiar and more tangible events of America’s youth.

Growth and Development of Multiple Political Party Systems in Nigeria In the present Nigeria, there are so many active, goal-oriented political parties that have grown with the interest of the people at heart. Political party system is the peoples best choice for supporting democratic government. Thus the Nigerian political party system has been producing through electoral democracy fortunate presidential candidates, transparent senators, successful federal and state House of Assembly representatives, active state governors, and great chairman of local government area. Our party system indeed understands common human aims and work toward the peoples political interest to better all sector of life in the nation. The Nigerian People Alliances and Growth of Political Organizations A popular, goal-driven measure of supporting democratic leadership in Nigeria is by creating alliances and nongovernmental organizations. In this country, alliances has been used in pursuing democratic peace in government, while nongovernmental organizations are solely for provision of human welfare through divergent humanitarian services. Obviously, many alliances and political groups or organizations also have been formed with interest and aspiration for national political development because many of them have the belief that successful governance can be possible when there is true and effective electoral democracy.

This book illuminates how law and politics interact in the judicial doctrines and explores how democracy sustains and is sustained by the exercise of judicial power.

Shifting power balances in the world are shaking the foundations of the liberal international order and revealing new fault lines at the intersection of human rights and international security. Will these new global trends help or hinder the world's long struggle for human rights and democracy? The answer depends on the role of five rising democracies—India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, and Indonesia—as both examples and supporters of liberal ideas and practices. Ted Piccone analyzes the transitions of these five democracies as their stars rise on the international stage. While they offer important and mainly positive examples of the compatibility of political liberties, economic growth, and human development, their foreign policies swing between interest-based strategic autonomy and a principled concern for democratic progress and human rights. In a multipolar world, the fate of the liberal international order depends on how they reconcile these tendencies.