Democratic Vulnerabilities

First Edition
Robert Lieberman - John Hopkins University
Suzanne Mettler - Cornell University, USA
Democratic Vulnerabilities
April 2022 | 200 pages | Sage US
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Paperback
ISBN: 9781071884195
Available from January 0001

Description

Scholars of democracy around the world have identified several key weaknesses in American democracy, such as an increasingly dysfunctional government and fraying social cohesion, that undermine the regime’s accountability and responsiveness. This volume of The ANNALS focuses on how to provide a practical assessment of the contemporary threats to American democracy, allowing us to think analytically about what brought U.S. democracy to its current state, as well as the prospects for the future.

In this volume, we investigate the following questions: How have long-standing areas of democratic weakness, whether due to institutional arrangements, social polarization, or political processes, made American democracy fragile? Have new developments in recent years further jeopardized or weakened democracy? What might enable democracy to withstand such challenges? How can Americans, despite deep polarization, strengthen and protect democracy? We gather insights on these questions from a diverse and distinguished group of political scientists, including scholars who study the United States and colleagues who study democratic deterioration abroad.

Paperback: $42.00, Sale Price $33.60, ISBN: 9781071884195
Hardcover: $60.00, Sale Price $58.00, ISBN: 9781071884201

Visit sagepub.com/annals

Contents

Introduction

  • Democratic Vulnerabilities and Pathways for Reform

Democratic Institutions: Resilience and Vulnerability

  • Democratic Capacity: Election Administration as Bulwark and Target
  • Delegitimization, Deconstruction and Control: Undermining the Administrative State
  • The Supreme Court and the Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding

When Mass Politics Fails to Ensure Democracy

  • “Good Citizens” in Democratic Hard Times
  • White Racial Solidarity and Opposition to American Democracy
  • Threats or Gains: The Battle over Participation in America’s Careening Democracy
  • The Far-Right Threat in the United States: A European Perspective

How Spatial Organization Endangers Democracy

  • Challenges to Subnational Democracy in the United States, Past and Present
  • The Growing Rural-Urban Political Divide and Democratic Vulnerability
  • American Federalism, Political Inequality, and Democratic Erosion

Parties, Movements, and Democracy: Peril and Promise

  • Moderation, Realignment, or Transformation? Evaluating Three Approaches to America’s Crisis of Democracy
  • Civil Society, Realized: Equipping the Mass Public to Express Choice and Negotiate Power
  • Can Black Lives Matter within U.S. Democracy?

Description

Scholars of democracy around the world have identified several key weaknesses in American democracy, such as an increasingly dysfunctional government and fraying social cohesion, that undermine the regime’s accountability and responsiveness. This volume of The ANNALS focuses on how to provide a practical assessment of the contemporary threats to American democracy, allowing us to think analytically about what brought U.S. democracy to its current state, as well as the prospects for the future.

In this volume, we investigate the following questions: How have long-standing areas of democratic weakness, whether due to institutional arrangements, social polarization, or political processes, made American democracy fragile? Have new developments in recent years further jeopardized or weakened democracy? What might enable democracy to withstand such challenges? How can Americans, despite deep polarization, strengthen and protect democracy? We gather insights on these questions from a diverse and distinguished group of political scientists, including scholars who study the United States and colleagues who study democratic deterioration abroad.

Paperback: $42.00, Sale Price $33.60, ISBN: 9781071884195
Hardcover: $60.00, Sale Price $58.00, ISBN: 9781071884201

Visit sagepub.com/annals

Contents

Introduction

  • Democratic Vulnerabilities and Pathways for Reform

Democratic Institutions: Resilience and Vulnerability

  • Democratic Capacity: Election Administration as Bulwark and Target
  • Delegitimization, Deconstruction and Control: Undermining the Administrative State
  • The Supreme Court and the Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding

When Mass Politics Fails to Ensure Democracy

  • “Good Citizens” in Democratic Hard Times
  • White Racial Solidarity and Opposition to American Democracy
  • Threats or Gains: The Battle over Participation in America’s Careening Democracy
  • The Far-Right Threat in the United States: A European Perspective

How Spatial Organization Endangers Democracy

  • Challenges to Subnational Democracy in the United States, Past and Present
  • The Growing Rural-Urban Political Divide and Democratic Vulnerability
  • American Federalism, Political Inequality, and Democratic Erosion

Parties, Movements, and Democracy: Peril and Promise

  • Moderation, Realignment, or Transformation? Evaluating Three Approaches to America’s Crisis of Democracy
  • Civil Society, Realized: Equipping the Mass Public to Express Choice and Negotiate Power
  • Can Black Lives Matter within U.S. Democracy?
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Democratic Vulnerabilities


April 2022 | 200 pages | Sage US

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Paperback 28/02/2026 9781071884195 $90.00
Hardcover 28/02/2026 9781071884201 $126.00

Scholars of democracy around the world have identified several key weaknesses in American democracy, such as an increasingly dysfunctional government and fraying social cohesion, that undermine the regime’s accountability and responsiveness. This volume of The ANNALS focuses on how to provide a practical assessment of the contemporary threats to American democracy, allowing us to think analytically about what brought U.S. democracy to its current state, as well as the prospects for the future.

In this volume, we investigate the following questions: How have long-standing areas of democratic weakness, whether due to institutional arrangements, social polarization, or political processes, made American democracy fragile? Have new developments in recent years further jeopardized or weakened democracy? What might enable democracy to withstand such challenges? How can Americans, despite deep polarization, strengthen and protect democracy? We gather insights on these questions from a diverse and distinguished group of political scientists, including scholars who study the United States and colleagues who study democratic deterioration abroad.

Paperback: $42.00, Sale Price $33.60, ISBN: 9781071884195
Hardcover: $60.00, Sale Price $58.00, ISBN: 9781071884201

Visit sagepub.com/annals


Table Of Contents:

  • Introduction
  • Democratic Vulnerabilities and Pathways for Reform
  • Democratic Institutions: Resilience and Vulnerability
  • Democratic Capacity: Election Administration as Bulwark and Target
  • Delegitimization, Deconstruction and Control: Undermining the Administrative State
  • The Supreme Court and the Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding
  • When Mass Politics Fails to Ensure Democracy
  • “Good Citizens” in Democratic Hard Times
  • White Racial Solidarity and Opposition to American Democracy
  • Threats or Gains: The Battle over Participation in America’s Careening Democracy
  • The Far-Right Threat in the United States: A European Perspective
  • How Spatial Organization Endangers Democracy
  • Challenges to Subnational Democracy in the United States, Past and Present
  • The Growing Rural-Urban Political Divide and Democratic Vulnerability
  • American Federalism, Political Inequality, and Democratic Erosion
  • Parties, Movements, and Democracy: Peril and Promise
  • Moderation, Realignment, or Transformation? Evaluating Three Approaches to America’s Crisis of Democracy
  • Civil Society, Realized: Equipping the Mass Public to Express Choice and Negotiate Power
  • Can Black Lives Matter within U.S. Democracy?

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