Designing democratic government

About this book

"The contributors to Designing Democratic Government set out to identify institutional arrangements that best embody three key ideals of democracy: fairness, competitiveness, and accountability. Jan E. Leighley and Jonathan Nagler find that for the past forty years, the major U.S. political parties have consistently targeted higher income groups in their voter recruitment campaigns. They suggest that the ability to mobilize voters across socioeconomic lines in large part binges on the work of nonparty organisations, which are strikingly less likely to engage in class-biased outreach efforts. Michael P. McDonald presents compelling evidence that redistricting efforts have contributed to a decline in the number of competitive electoral districts in the United States in recent years. He finds that court-drawn plans, overall levels of state competitiveness, and the Voting Rights Act all play a crucial role in making districts more competitive. John M.^ Carey and John Polga-Hecimovich challenge the widespread belief that primary elections weaken the unity of parties and produce inferior candidates. Their analysis of all Latin American presidential elections since 1978 reveals that candidates chosen by a primary are in fact stronger competitors. These results suggest that primaries impart a stamp of legitimacy on government, helping to engage voters and mitigate distrust in the democratic process. In an analysis of voting system reform, Henry E. Brady and Iris Hui argue that partisan fears about the role of technology have focused attention in the United States on the possibility that votes might be intentionally tampered with - but have distracted the public from the equally crucial problem of voting machine accuracy. They detail how a variety of statistical techniques can reduce error rates - and may help mitigate alarming disparities in the accuracy with which votes are counted in poor versus wealthy communities.^ Kanchan Chandra argues for a paradigm. shift in the way we think about ethnic inclusion in democracies: nations should design institutions that actively promote - rather than merely accommodate - diversity." "At a crucial moment when democracy seems vulnerable both at home and abroad, Designing-Democratic Government cuts through a complex array of practices to outline what works and what doesn't in new and established democracies alike. The result is a volume that promises to powerfully influence the way we pursue and defend the ideals of democracy worldwide."--BOOK JACKET.