Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices by Russell J Dalton

Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices by Russell J Dalton

Most democratic citizens today are distrustful of politicians, political parties, and political institutions. Where once democracies expected an allegiant public, citizens now question the very pillars of representative democracy. Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices documents the erosion of political support in virtually all advanced industrial democracies. Assembling an unprecedented array of cross-national public opinion data, this study traces the current challenges to democracy primary to changing citizen values and rising expectations. These critical citizens are concentrated among the young, the better educated, and the politically sophisticated. At the same time, the evidence debunks claims that such trends are a function of scandals, poor performance, and other government failures. Changing public are born from the successful social modernization of these nations. A creedal passion for democracy is sweeping across the Western democracies, and people now expect more of their governments. This study concludes by examining the consequences of these changing images of government. The author finds that these expectations are making governing more difficult, but also fueling demands for political reform. The choices that democracies make in response to these challenges may lead to a further expansion of the democratic process and a new relationship between citizens and their government

Review from previous edition For several decades, social scientists have been concerned by evidence of declining trust in government and declining social capitalThe implications have been hotly debated, with the most influential school seeing these trends as threatening the survival of democracy. In Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices, Dalton analyzes a broader body of evidence than has ever before been examined, probing deeply. His balanced new assessment is likely to emerge as the definitive interpretation of these trends. * Ronald Inglehart, Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, and Director of the World Values Surveys *
Professor Dalton's dramatic findings should be required reading for every elected official and for every citizen concerned with democracy's future. * Gary Hart, United States Senator (Ret.) *

Dalton, Russell J.: - Russell Dalton is a professor at the University of California, Irvine and former director of the Center for the Study of Democracy. His research and teaching focuses on the changing nature of citizen politics in contemporary democracies. He has received a Fulbright Research Fellowship, a German Marshall Fund Fellowship, Barbra Streisand Center Fellowship and POSCO Research Fellowship. He has served on the boards of the American National Election Study, the British Election Study and the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. Among his recent authored or edited books are The Apartisan American (2012), Political Parties and Democratic Linkage (2011), Citizens, Context and Choice (2011), The Good Citizen (2009), Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior (2007), Citizens, Democracy and Markets around the Pacific Rim (2006), Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies (2004), Democracy Transformed? The Expansion of Citizen Access in Advanced Industrial Democracies (2003), and Parties without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies (co-editor, 2001). He has also appeared in six feature-length Hollywood movies.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780199297900
ISBN 10	0199297908
Title	Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices
Author	Russell J Dalton
Series	Comparative Politics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2007-01-25
Number of pages	246
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.