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Downsizing Democracy

How America Sidelined Its Citizens and Privatized Its Public

Matthew A. Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg

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Originally publushed in 2002. In Downsizing Democracy, Matthew A. Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg describe how the once powerful idea of a collective citizenry has given way to a concept of personal, autonomous democracy. Today, political change is effected through litigation, lobbying, and term limits, rather than active participation in the political process, resulting in narrow special interest groups dominating state and federal decision-making. At a time when an American's investment in the democratic process has largely been reduced to an annual contribution to a political party or...

Originally publushed in 2002. In Downsizing Democracy, Matthew A. Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg describe how the once powerful idea of a collective citizenry has given way to a concept of personal, autonomous democracy. Today, political change is effected through litigation, lobbying, and term limits, rather than active participation in the political process, resulting in narrow special interest groups dominating state and federal decision-making. At a time when an American's investment in the democratic process has largely been reduced to an annual contribution to a political party or organization, Downsizing Democracy offers a critical reassessment of American democracy.

Reviews

Reviews

A thoughtful and useful analysis of present-day democratic decline.

Downsizing Democracy has the marks of a book that will be remembered. It applies a master thesis to many different facets of American political life, inviting the reader to see a vast array of previously familiar material as if for the first time and as a whole. In the authors' view, we have come to the end of a centuries-long epoch during which government and political elites needed publicly engaged citizenry... The authors prosecute their thesis... with admirable insight and persuasiveness.

This fascinating book surveys the changing relationship between the U.S. government and the populace that constitutes its whole... Highly recommended.

Downsizing Democracy offers a sweeping and unsparing portrait of democratic decline in America. Crenson and Ginsberg refute accounts that blame ordinary citizens for our listless democracy. Instead they show how institutional changes have freed elites from mass constituencies and encouraged the substitution of personal action for political mobilization.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
310
ISBN
9781421430676
Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1. From Popular to Personal Democracy
Chapter 2. The Rise and Fall of the Citizen
Chapter 3. Elections Without Voters
Chapter 4. The Old Patronage and the New
Chapter 5. Disunited We Stand
C

Preface
Chapter 1. From Popular to Personal Democracy
Chapter 2. The Rise and Fall of the Citizen
Chapter 3. Elections Without Voters
Chapter 4. The Old Patronage and the New
Chapter 5. Disunited We Stand
Chapter 6. From Masses to Mailing Lists
Chapter 7. The Jurisprudence of Personal Democracy
Chapter 8. Movements without Members
Chapter 9. Privatizing the Public
Chapter 10. Does Anyone Need Citizens?
Notes
Index

Author Bios
Matthew A. Crenson
Featured Contributor

Matthew A. Crenson

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.
Featured Contributor

Thomas Stanton

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...