Democracy Transformed?: Expanding Political Opportunities in Advanced Industrial Democracies

Book Overview

The popular pressures for reforms of the democratic process have mounted across the OECD nations over the past generation. In response, democratic institutions are changing, evolving, and expanding in ways that may alter the structure of the democratic process. These changes include reforms
of the electoral process, the expansion of referendums, introduction of open government provisions, and more access points for direct political involvement. Indeed, some observers claim that we are witnessing the most fundamental transformation of the democratic process since the creation of mass
democracy in the early 20th Century.

This international team of distinguished scholars assembles the evidence of how democratic institutions and processes are changing, and considers the larger implications of these reforms for the nature of democracy. The findings points to a new style of democratic politics that expands the nature of
democracy, but also carries challenges for democracies to include all its citizens and govern effectively in an environment of complex government.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199291640
• ISBN13: 9780199291649
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.2"