Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies

Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies

Author: Mariano Torcal

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-04-18

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 1134297114

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Citizens of many democracies are becoming more critical of basic political institutions and detached and disaffected from politics in general. This is a new comparative analysis of this trend that focuses on major democracies throughout Latin America, Asia and Central Europe. It brings together leading scholars to address three key areas of the current debate: the conceptual discussion surrounding political disaffection the factors causing voters to turn away from politics the actual consequences for democracy This is a highly relevant topic as representative democracies are coming to face new developments. It deals with the reasons and consequences of the so called ‘democratic deficit’ in a systematic way that enables the reader to develop a well-rounded sense of the area and its main debates. This book is an invaluable resource for all students of political science, sociology, cultural studies and comparative politics.


Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies

Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies

Author: Mariano Torcal

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-04-18

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 1134297122

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Citizens of many democracies are becoming more critical of basic political institutions and detached and disaffected from politics in general. This is a new comparative analysis of this trend that focuses on major democracies throughout Latin America, Asia and Central Europe. It brings together leading scholars to address three key areas of the current debate: the conceptual discussion surrounding political disaffection the factors causing voters to turn away from politics the actual consequences for democracy This is a highly relevant topic as representative democracies are coming to face new developments. It deals with the reasons and consequences of the so called ‘democratic deficit’ in a systematic way that enables the reader to develop a well-rounded sense of the area and its main debates. This book is an invaluable resource for all students of political science, sociology, cultural studies and comparative politics.


Why We Hate Politics

Why We Hate Politics

Author: Colin Hay

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-04-23

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0745657419

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Politics was once a term with an array of broadly positive connotations, associated with public scrutiny, deliberation and accountability. Yet today it is an increasingly dirty word, typically synonymous with duplicity, corruption, inefficiency and undue interference in matters both public and private. How has this come to pass? Why do we hate politics and politicians so much? How pervasive is the contemporary condition of political disaffection? And what is politics anyway? In this lively and original work, Colin Hay provides a series of innovative and provocative answers to these questions. He begins by tracing the origins and development of the current climate of political disenchantment across a broad range of established democracies. Far from revealing a rising tide of apathy, however, he shows that a significant proportion of those who have withdrawn from formal politics are engaged in other modes of political activity. He goes on to develop and defend a broad and inclusive conception of politics and the political that is far less formal, less state-centric and less narrowly governmental than in most conventional accounts. By demonstrating how our expectations of politics and the political realities we witness are shaped decisively by the assumptions about human nature that we project onto political actors, Hay provides a powerful and highly distinctive account of contemporary political disenchantment. Why We Hate Politics will be essential reading for all those troubled by the contemporary political condition of the established democracies.


Democracies and the Populist Challenge

Democracies and the Populist Challenge

Author: Y. Meny

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2001-12-06

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1403920079

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Populism has become a favourite catchword for mass media and politicians faced with the challenge of protest parties or movements. It has often been equated with radical right leaders or parties. This volume offers a different perspective and underlines that populism is an ambiguous but constitutive component of democratic systems torn between their ideology (government of the people, by the people, for the people) and their actual functioning, characterised by the role of the elites and the limits put on the popular will by liberal constitutionalism.


Toward Leader Democracy

Toward Leader Democracy

Author: Jan Pakulski

Publisher: Anthem Press

Published: 2012-01-15

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1843317710

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In today’s liberal democracies, does the political process focus on the people, or on the political leaders representing them? Building upon the ideas of Joseph Schumpeter and Max Weber, ‘Toward Leader Democracy’ argues that we are currently seeing a movement toward an increasingly pronounced focus on political leaders – ‘leader democracy’. This form of democracy is fashioned by the political will, determination and commitment of top politicians, and is exercised through elite persuasion that actively shapes the preferences of voters so as to give meaning to political processes. As the text reveals, this marks a definite evolution within the world’s ‘advanced democracies’: democratic representation is today realised increasingly through active political leadership, as opposed to the former practices of statistically ‘mirroring’ constituencies, or the deliberative self-adjustment of the executive to match citizen preferences.


Trust in Contemporary Society

Trust in Contemporary Society

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-07-22

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 900439043X

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Trust in Contemporary Society, by well-known trust researchers, deals with conceptual, theoretical and social interaction analyses, historical data on societies, national surveys or cross-national comparative studies, and methodological issues related to trust. The authors are from a variety of disciplines: psychology, sociology, political science, organizational studies, history, and philosophy, and from Britain, the United States, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, and Japan. They bring their vast knowledge from different historical and cultural backgrounds to illuminate contemporary issues of trust and distrust. The socio-cultural perspective of trust is important and increasingly acknowledged as central to trust research. Accordingly, future directions for comparative trust research are also discussed. Contributors include: Jack Barbalet, John Brehm, Geoffrey Hosking, Robert Marsh, Barbara A. Misztal, Guido Möllering, Bart Nooteboom, Ken J. Rotenberg, Jiří Šafr, Masamichi Sasaki, Meg Savel, Markéta Sedláčková, Jörg Sydow, Piotr Sztompka.


Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government

Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government

Author: Adam Przeworski

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-06-14

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 0521140110

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The book analyzes the sources of widespread dissatisfaction with democracies around the world and identifies directions for feasible reforms.


The End of Representative Politics

The End of Representative Politics

Author: Simon Tormey

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2015-05-19

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 0745690513

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Representative politics is in crisis. Trust in politicians is at an all-time low. Fewer people are voting or joining political parties, and our interest in parliamentary politics is declining fast. Even oppositional and radical parties that should be benefitting from public disenchantment with politics are suffering. But different forms of political activity are emerging to replace representative politics: instant politics, direct action, insurgent politics. We are leaving behind traditional representation, and moving towards a politics without representatives. In this provocative new book, Simon Tormey explores the changes that are underway, drawing on a rich range of examples from the Arab Spring to the Indignados uprising in Spain, street protests in Brazil and Turkey to the emergence of new initiatives such as Anonymous and Occupy. Tormey argues that the easy assumptions that informed our thinking about the nature and role of parties, and ‘party based democracy’ have to be rethought. We are entering a period of fast politics, evanescent politics, a politics of the street, of the squares, of micro-parties, pop-up parties, and demonstrations. This may well be the end of representative politics as we know it, but an exciting new era of political engagement is just beginning.