Good government : democracy beyond elections

Good government : democracy beyond elections
Pierre Rosanvallon, Pierre Ros ...
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Last edited by ImportBot
September 29, 2021 | History

Good government : democracy beyond elections

Few would disagree that Western democracies are experiencing a crisis of representation. In the United States, gerrymandering and concentrated political geographies have placed the Congress and state legislatures in a stranglehold that is often at odds with public opinion. Campaign financing ensures that only the affluent have voice in legislation. Europeans, meanwhile, increasingly see the European Union as an anti-democratic body whose "diktats" have no basis in popular rule. The response, however, has not been an effective pursuit of better representation. In Good Government, Pierre Rosanvallon examines the long history of the alternative to which the public has gravitated: the empowered executive. Rosanvallon argues that, faced with everyday ineptitude in governance, people become attracted to strong leaders and bold executive action. If these fail, they too often want even stronger personal leadership. Whereas nineteenth-century liberals and reformers longed for parliamentary sovereignty, nowadays few contest the "imperial presidency." Rosanvallon traces this history from the Weimar Republic to Charles De Gaulle's "exceptional" presidency to the Bush-Cheney concentration of executive power. Europeans rebelling against the technocratic EU and Americans fed up with the "administrative state" have turned to charismatic figures, from Donald Trump to Viktor Orbán, who tout personal strength as their greatest asset. This is not just a right-wing phenomenon, though, as liberal contentment with Obama's drone war demonstrates. Rosanvallon makes clear that contemporary "presidentialism" may reflect the particular concerns of the moment, but its many precursors demonstrate that democracy has always struggled with tension between popular government and concentrated authority.--

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
338

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Cover of: Good government : democracy beyond elections
Good government : democracy beyond elections
2018
in English

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Book Details


Table of Contents

Introduction: From one democracy to another
I. Executive power. Consecration of the law and demotion of the executive ; The cult of impersonality and its metamorphoses ; The age of rehabilitation ; Two temptations
II. The presidentialization of democracies. The pioneering experiments: 1848 and Weimar ; From Gaullist exception to standard model ; Unavoidable and unsatisfactory ; Limiting illiberalism
III. A democracy of appropriation. The governed and their governors ; Legibility ; Responsibility ; Responsiveness
IV. A democracy of trust. The good ruler in historical perspective ; Truthfulness ; Integrity
Conclusion: The second democratic revolution.

Edition Notes

Originally published in French as: Le Bon gouvernement.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Translated from the French.

Copyright Date
2018

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
321.8
Library of Congress
JC423 .R169313 2018, JC423.R169313 2018

The Physical Object

Pagination
vi, 338 pages
Number of pages
338

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL26955357M
ISBN 10
0674979435
ISBN 13
9780674979437
LCCN
2017036976
OCLC/WorldCat
1004576219

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Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
September 29, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
August 25, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
May 24, 2019 Created by MARC Bot Imported from marc_openlibraries_sanfranciscopubliclibrary MARC record