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).
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. 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.
發表於2024-11-22
Democracy for Realists 2024 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載
首發於 政見 CNPolitics.org 選舉製度嚮來都被政治學傢視作民主製度的核心。在許多學術著作中,“是否有相對公平和自由競爭的選舉”被視作衡量一個國傢是否民主的重要(乃至唯一)標準。 但是,選舉製度本身有多民主呢?它能夠反映民眾利益嗎? 選總統與擲硬幣:傳統理論的...
評分首發於 政見 CNPolitics.org 選舉製度嚮來都被政治學傢視作民主製度的核心。在許多學術著作中,“是否有相對公平和自由競爭的選舉”被視作衡量一個國傢是否民主的重要(乃至唯一)標準。 但是,選舉製度本身有多民主呢?它能夠反映民眾利益嗎? 選總統與擲硬幣:傳統理論的...
評分原文發錶於公共平颱“敦倫政經”:https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/rlbJdILGTLKqnb7xDSaglg? 文/ 小牆 迴溯性投票是民主選舉影響政策的重要方式。政治理論傢認為,相對於前瞻式地辨彆潛在領導人的質量,選民更善於迴溯式地判斷本屆政府在任期內的執政錶現,並據此投票決定是否讓在...
評分首發於 政見 CNPolitics.org 選舉製度嚮來都被政治學傢視作民主製度的核心。在許多學術著作中,“是否有相對公平和自由競爭的選舉”被視作衡量一個國傢是否民主的重要(乃至唯一)標準。 但是,選舉製度本身有多民主呢?它能夠反映民眾利益嗎? 選總統與擲硬幣:傳統理論的...
評分原文發錶於公共平颱“敦倫政經”:https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/rlbJdILGTLKqnb7xDSaglg? 文/ 小牆 迴溯性投票是民主選舉影響政策的重要方式。政治理論傢認為,相對於前瞻式地辨彆潛在領導人的質量,選民更善於迴溯式地判斷本屆政府在任期內的執政錶現,並據此投票決定是否讓在...
圖書標籤: 政治學 美國政治 民主 選舉民主 社會學 政治 政治經濟學 選舉政治學
可憐的“民主”,騙子,誰的愛,赤裸裸!
評分可憐的“民主”,騙子,誰的愛,赤裸裸!
評分真的鬥士Bartels
評分for voting behavior class 隻讀瞭第二第九十十一章節 今天課上討論瞭小問題 social identity 對應folk theory of democracy which argues for citizen rationality.
評分5星。補mark。雖然這本書引起瞭很多爭議(比如鯊魚在新澤西的意外事件是否造成威爾遜總統的選票流失),但是兩位作者提齣瞭很多引人深思的問題。他們提齣瞭這樣一種可能性:更多的直接民主並不能帶來治理效果的改善,選舉問責在很多情況下會失效——選民的有限理性、選民將自然災害歸咎於政客(鯊魚例子)、以及選民受到各種身份政治的影響(比如黨派)……作者從某種程度上迴歸瞭熊彼得對民主的思考,民主的效果有限,所以要讓政治傢管理國傢,選舉結束之後人民對政治的參與要限製。不要被民主的錶象欺騙瞭,到最後,依然是政治傢搞政治,我們最多隻能決定由哪個政治傢來搞,這就是regime type所能帶給我們的一切。不要期望太多,所謂人民直接當傢做主不會(也不應該)實現。
Democracy for Realists 2024 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載