The Myth of Democratic Failure

The Myth of Democratic Failure
Author: Donald A. Wittman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1995
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780226904238

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In The Myth of Democratic Failure, Donald A. Wittman refutes one of the cornerstone beliefs of economics and political science: that economic markets are more efficient than the processes and institutions of democratic government.

The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper

The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper
Author: Arturo C. Sotomayor
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2014
Genre: History
ISBN: 1421412136

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If democratic principles do not just "rub off" onto United Nations peacekeepers, what positive or negative implications can be observed? Winner of the Luciano Tomassini Latin American Relations Book Award of the Luciano Tomassini Latin American Relations The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper reevaluates how United Nations peacekeeping missions reform (or fail to reform) their participating members. It investigates how such missions affect military organizations and civil-military relations as countries transition to a more democratic system. Two-thirds of the UN’s peacekeepers come from developing nations, many of which are transitioning to democracy as well. The assumption is that these “blue helmet” peacekeepers learn not only to appreciate democratic principles through their mission work but also to develop an international outlook and new ideas about conflict prevention. Arturo C. Sotomayor debunks this myth, arguing that democratic practices don’t just “rub off” on UN peacekeepers. So what, if any, benefit accrues to these troops from emerging democracies? In this richly detailed study of a decade’s worth of research (2001–2010) on Argentine, Brazilian, and Uruguayan peacekeeping participation, Sotomayor draws upon international socialization theory and civil-military relations to understand how peacekeeping efforts impact participating armed forces. He asks three questions: Does peacekeeping reform military organizations? Can peacekeeping socialize soldiers to become more liberalized and civilianized? Does peacekeeping improve defense and foreign policy integration? His evaluation of the three countries’ involvement in the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti reinforces his final analysis—that successful democratic transitions must include a military organization open to change and a civilian leadership that exercises its oversight responsibilities. The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper contributes to international relations theory and to substantive issues in civil-military relations and comparative politics. It provides a novel argument about how peacekeeping works and further insight into how international factors affect domestic politics as well as how international institutions affect democratizing efforts.

Myth America

Myth America
Author: William Harrison Boyer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2003
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

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Exposes the conflict between the forces suporting growing corporate power in America and the needs of a democratic society to achieve a just and sustainable future; shows how the priorities of the media and schools in furthering the corporate agenda are undermining rather than helping to achieve ecological sustainability and social justice. [back cover].

The Myth of American Democracy

The Myth of American Democracy
Author: Trenton Fervor
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2013-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1475981007

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In his current work, Trenton Fervor author of The Last Individual: The Ascendancy of the Sociomaniacal Mindset delivers a critical exposition of democracy and its defects. The Myth of American Democracy is an unapologetic critique of the American political system and an attempt to dismantle the mystique perpetuated to sanctify and sanction it. Fervor entreats the reader to reexamine the notion of democracy and its attendant processes absent the sophistic demagoguery and to more closely consider the actual nature of the institution, and the establishment behemoth which inhabits and advances it. The reader is encouraged to confront the myth and deception which pervade the contemporary conception of democracy, and to accept the reality that the democratic emperor is naked. Democracy today is in truth fundamentally absurd: its premise is that an ideologically coherent, consistent, and efficient social policy program can be constructed by formulating each aspect of the overall program through a process of majoritarian amalgamation of contradictory, incongruent, and confrontational views. The Myth of American Democracy is an important rebuke of conventional democratic orthodoxy which will challenge readers to reevaluate their sympathies for the system. This book is recommended reading for everyone who has wrestled with the troubling suspicion that there is something inherently dubious and defective about the democratic system.

Democratic Failure and Emergencies

Democratic Failure and Emergencies
Author: James M. McDonald
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre:
ISBN:

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The long-running debate about the ability of a democratic government to respond to emergencies has assumed new significance as scholars, judges, and government officials develop new arguments to respond to the challenges presented by the twenty-first century and the "War on Terror." Traditional emergency-politics theorists explain democratic government during emergency with the "democratic failure theory." But revisionists, led by Professors Eric Posner and Adrian Vermeule, recently have challenged the "democratic failure" theory, arguing that, because emergencies affect no systemic change in the structure of voting and representation, democratic government functions with equal facility during emergencies as during normal times. This Note, while ambivalent about a broad application of the traditionalists' democratic failure theory, offers one counterpoint to Posner and Vermeule and their revisionist claim. Introducing primary source research and re-introducing forgotten or overlooked academic arguments, this Note presents a case study of the Japanese internment during World War II. The internment of individuals of Japanese descent was not merely the result, as revisionists argue, of a continuation of the peacetime baseline or of rational concerns for national security. National security concerns played a part in the decision, to be sure, but this Note argues that the primary impetus behind the internment came from an anti-Japanese West-Coast coalition's successful exploitation of the democratic failure caused by the emergency of World War II. The coalition had long sought to exclude individuals of Japanese descent (and the Chinese before them), but before World War II, those efforts lacked mainstream political appeal. World War II changed the political playing field, and the anti-Japanese coalition on the West Coast knew it. Capitalizing on the World War II democratic failure, the coalition harnessed the political support necessary to achieve its exclusionary goal.

The Will of the People

The Will of the People
Author: Albert Weale
Publisher: Polity
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-11-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9781509533268

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Democracies today are in the grip of a myth: the myth of the will of the people. Populist movements use the idea to challenge elected representatives. Politicians, content to invoke the will of the people, fail in their duty to make responsible and accountable decisions. And public contest over political choices is stifled by fears that opposing the will of the people will be perceived as elitist. In this book Albert Weale dissects the idea of the will of the people, showing that it relies on a mythical view of participatory democracy. As soon as a choice between more than two simple alternatives is involved, there is often no clear answer to the question of what a majority favours. Moreover, because governments have to interpret the results of referendums, the will of the people becomes a means for strengthening executive control – the exact opposite of what appealing to the people’s will seemed to imply. Weale argues that it’s time to dispense with the myth of the will of the people. A flourishing democracy requires an open society in which choices can be challenged, parliaments strengthened and populist leaders called to account.

The Law of Political Economy

The Law of Political Economy
Author: Poul F. Kjaer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 423
Release: 2020-04-23
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108493114

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"Political economy themes have - directly and indirectly - been a central concern of law and legal scholarship ever since political economy emerged as a concept in the early seventeenth century, a development which was re-inforced by the emergence of political economy as an independent area of scholarly enquiry in the eighteenth century, as developed by the French physiocrats. This is not surprising in so far as the core institutions of the economy and economic exchanges, such as property and contract, are legal institutions.In spite of this intrinsic link, political economy discourses and legal discourses dealing with political economy themes unfold in a largely separate manner. Indeed, this book is also a reflection of this, in so far as its core concern is how the law and legal scholarship conceive of and approach political economy issues"--

Democracy and Political Ignorance

Democracy and Political Ignorance
Author: Ilya Somin
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2013-10-02
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0804789312

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One of the biggest problems with modern democracy is that most of the public is usually ignorant of politics and government. Often, many people understand that their votes are unlikely to change the outcome of an election and don't see the point in learning much about politics. This may be rational, but it creates a nation of people with little political knowledge and little ability to objectively evaluate what they do know. In Democracy and Political Ignorance, Ilya Somin mines the depths of ignorance in America and reveals the extent to which it is a major problem for democracy. Somin weighs various options for solving this problem, arguing that political ignorance is best mitigated and its effects lessened by decentralizing and limiting government. Somin provocatively argues that people make better decisions when they choose what to purchase in the market or which state or local government to live under, than when they vote at the ballot box, because they have stronger incentives to acquire relevant information and to use it wisely.

Against Democracy

Against Democracy
Author: Jason Brennan
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2017-09-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1400888395

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A bracingly provocative challenge to one of our most cherished ideas and institutions Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They believe people have the right to an equal share of political power. And they believe that political participation is good for us—it empowers us, helps us get what we want, and tends to make us smarter, more virtuous, and more caring for one another. These are some of our most cherished ideas about democracy. But Jason Brennan says they are all wrong. In this trenchant book, Brennan argues that democracy should be judged by its results—and the results are not good enough. Just as defendants have a right to a fair trial, citizens have a right to competent government. But democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, and it all too often falls short. Furthermore, no one has a fundamental right to any share of political power, and exercising political power does most of us little good. On the contrary, a wide range of social science research shows that political participation and democratic deliberation actually tend to make people worse—more irrational, biased, and mean. Given this grim picture, Brennan argues that a new system of government—epistocracy, the rule of the knowledgeable—may be better than democracy, and that it's time to experiment and find out. A challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable, Against Democracy is essential reading for scholars and students of politics across the disciplines. Featuring a new preface that situates the book within the current political climate and discusses other alternatives beyond epistocracy, Against Democracy is a challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable.

Participation and Democratic Theory

Participation and Democratic Theory
Author: Carole Pateman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 134
Release: 1970
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521290043

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Shows that current elitist theories are based on an inadequate understanding of the early writings of democratic theory and that much sociological evidence has been ignored.