Downsizing Democracy: How America Sidelined Its Citizens and Privatized Its Public (2., Erw. Aufl.)

Matthew A Crenson,Thomas Stanton

ISBN 10: 0801871506 / ISBN 13: 9780801871504

Edité par Johns Hopkins University Press October 2002, 2002

A propos de cet article

Pages are very clean and bright with no markings. Binding is tight and square. Trivial shelving wear.

N° de réf. du vendeur 319421

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Downsizing Democracy: How America Sidelined Its Citizens and Privatized Its Public (2., Erw. Aufl.)
• Éditeur: Johns Hopkins University Press October 2002
• Date de parution: 2002
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0801871506
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780801871504
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: 2ème Édition
• État de l'article: Fine
• État de la jaquette: Near Fine
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Political Science

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

In the 19th century, America was exceptional for the vitality of its democratic institutions, particularly political parties. When citizens wanted change, they mobilized as political groups to pressure their congressional representatives or they made their power felt at the ballot box. Government, in turn, depended on the citizenry to staff public agencies, serve in the armed services, and provide funds in time of war through the purchase of bonds. Over the course of the 20th century, however, the nature of American democracy transformed so thoroughly that in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, President George W. Bush - elected by less than a quarter of eligible voters - told Americans that the best way they could help their country was to shop and travel while the government conducted a remote war. In this text, Matthew A. Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg describe how the powerful idea of a collective citizenry has given way to a concept of personal, autonomous democracy, in which political change is effected through litigation, lobbying, and term limits, rather than active participation in the political process. Mandatory taxes have replaced bonds as a means to fund military operations, career civil servants have replaced volunteers in the allocation of public services, and an elite, professional soldier has replaced the citizen-soldier. With citizens pushed to the periphery of political life, narrow special interest groups from across the political spectrum - largely composed of faceless members drawn from extended mailing lists - have come to dominate state and federal decision-making. In the closing decade of the last century, this trend only intensified as the federal government, taking a cue from business management practices, rethought its relationship to its citizens as one of a provider of goods and services to individual "customers".

À propos des auteurs

Matthew A. Crenson is a professor emeritus of political science at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of Neighborhood Politics and a coauthor of Downsizing Democracy: How America Sidelined Its Citizens and Privatized Its Public.

Thomas H. Stanton is a Washington, D.C., attorney. He provides legal and policy counsel on improving the design and capacity of public institutions. Stanton is a former member of the federal Senior Executive Service. He chairs the Standing Panel on Executive Organization and Management of the National Academy of Public Administration and is a fellow of the Center for the Study of American Government at the Johns Hopkins University. His writings on government include two books and many articles. The concerns he expressed in A State of Risk (1991) helped lead to enactment of legislation and the creation of a new federal financial regulator in 1992.