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Book Details
Abstract
Profound social changes have made governance and political leadership more challenging than ever. The result is that politics in the democratic world faces a crisis in the 21st century. The revised edition of this highly successful text reassesses the gap between citizen expectation and the realities of government in light of new developments.
‘A contemporary classic. This second edition is, just like the first, ahead of the debate. It brings together the very latest empirical findings to offer a plethora of fresh insights into perhaps our greatest current political problem - that of citizen disaffection and disengagement.’ - Colin Hay, Sciences Po, Paris, France
‘Written in an accessible and digestible style, this book addresses fundamental issues about democracy that are important for any student of politics to engage with.’ – Wyn Grant, University of Warwick, UK
‘A great overview of politics that will be enjoyed by students and engaged citizens alike… it tackles big questions in a way that is grounded in the discipline and yet accessible.’ – Paul Taggart, University of Sussex, UK
GERRY STOKER is Professor of Politics and Governance at the University of Southampton and Centenary Professor at the University of Canberra, Australia.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Contents | vii | ||
| List of Tables and Figures | x | ||
| Preface to First Edition | xi | ||
| Preface to the Second Edition | xiii | ||
| List of Abbreviations | xv | ||
| Introduction | 1 | ||
| The Dynamics of Politics | 1 | ||
| Why Politics? | 3 | ||
| Why Politics Matters | 5 | ||
| Democratic Politics in Trouble: An Overview of the Argument | 7 | ||
| Part I Mass Democracy: Triumph and Disappointment | 17 | ||
| 1 The Triumph of Democracy? | 19 | ||
| The Nature of Democratic Governance | 20 | ||
| Democracy as a Universal Value | 21 | ||
| The Triumph of Democracy? | 25 | ||
| Conclusions: Counter-Forces? | 29 | ||
| 2 Global Dissatisfaction with Politics | 32 | ||
| Patterns of Political Disenchantment | 34 | ||
| The Steady Decliners | 35 | ||
| The Steep Decliners | 41 | ||
| The Basement Decliners | 44 | ||
| The Modest Decliners | 45 | ||
| Should Disenchantment Be a Matter of Concern? | 46 | ||
| 3 Explanations for Political Disenchantment | 50 | ||
| Might Social Change Be Driving Negativity Towards Politics? | 51 | ||
| Attitudinal Change: Citizen Alienation from Politics | 57 | ||
| Process Failure: How Politics Has Changed for the Worse | 61 | ||
| Outcome Failure | 65 | ||
| Conclusion: Different Pathways to Anti-Politics | 69 | ||
| 4 The Politics of Mass Democracies: Designed-In Disappointment? | 71 | ||
| Introduction | 71 | ||
| Proposition 1: Politics is an inherently centralized form of collective decision making | 73 | ||
| Proposition 2: Politics is driven by complex communication that is demanding and prone to failure | 77 | ||
| Proposition 3: Political decisions usually involve mutual adjustment among governing elites and result in messy outcomes and a c | 81 | ||
| Conclusions | 85 | ||
| Part II The Pathologies of Political Practice | 87 | ||
| 5 The Decline of Citizen Engagement? | 89 | ||
| How Do Most Citizens Engage? | 90 | ||
| Uneven Capacity to Participate: Exploring and Addressing the Issues | 93 | ||
| Concerns about the Quality of Participation | 98 | ||
| Conclusions | 102 | ||
| 6 The Professionalization of Politics: The Emergence of Multispeed Activism | 104 | ||
| Party Activists | 105 | ||
| The Rise of the Citizen Lobby | 109 | ||
| Protest and Dissent | 114 | ||
| Concluding Comment: Participation by and Through Experts | 117 | ||
| 7 The Dangers of Cynicism | 120 | ||
| Why Cynicism Matters | 120 | ||
| Public Choice Theory: An Academic Framing for Cynicism? | 122 | ||
| Do Politicians Lie More Today? | 126 | ||
| The Role of the Media: Defender of Democracy or Creator of Corrosive Cynicism? | 128 | ||
| A Failure of Moral Accounting? | 130 | ||
| Conclusions | 133 | ||
| 8 The Perils of Populism | 134 | ||
| Exploring Populism | 135 | ||
| Populism in Action | 139 | ||
| Populism and Democratic Theory: A Minor Detour | 141 | ||
| Assessing Populism | 143 | ||
| Concluding Note | 146 | ||
| Part III Searching for Solutions | 149 | ||
| 9 Politics for Amateurs | 151 | ||
| Political Engagement is Good (Up to a Point) | 153 | ||
| Over-Prescription of Citizen Engagement | 156 | ||
| Intensive Engagement is not Always Effective or an Option Open to All Citizens | 160 | ||
| Towards a Strategy of Engagement: Public and Civic Politics | 162 | ||
| 10 Reviving Political Institutions | 165 | ||
| Making Representation Better | 168 | ||
| Three Mainstream Reforms | 171 | ||
| Three Unconventional Reforms | 175 | ||
| A New Architecture of Multilevel Governance | 176 | ||
| A Challenge to Politicians and Activists | 182 | ||
| Conclusions | 186 | ||
| 11 Creating a New Civic Arena | 187 | ||
| Democratic Innovations | 189 | ||
| Is the Internet a Game Changer? | 200 | ||
| Is Counter Democracy the Answer? | 204 | ||
| Information Flow and Understanding: Citizen Education and the Media | 204 | ||
| Concluding Note | 208 | ||
| Conclusions | 209 | ||
| What Reforms Do the Public Favour? | 209 | ||
| What Are the Prospects for Reform? | 213 | ||
| Who Should Lead Reform? | 215 | ||
| The Challenge | 215 | ||
| Postscript: the UK’s EU referendum and a plea for a better politics | 216 | ||
| Notes and References | 219 | ||
| Index | 239 |