Elections in The Books Store

A fascinating and necessary read for anyone wishing to better understand Election 2000, this unique new book by two renowned authors gives readers the tools they need to examine our election system as it exists today. Examines elections in the context of the new institutionalism, arguing that an understanding of American elections requires more than knowledge of voting behavior. The importance of federalism in understanding the electoral systems is emphasized throughout. In order to gain a true understanding of U.S. elections, the effects of new institutionalism and federalism must be taken into account. For those interested in American government, voting and elections in the U.S.

Although this may appear to be democracy in action, Richard Ellis warns us that the initiative process may be putting democracy at risk. In Democratic Delusions he offers a critical analysis of the statewide initiative process in the United States, challenging readers to look beyond populist rhetoric and face political reality.

Through engaging prose and illuminating anecdotes, Ellis shows readers the "dark side" of direct democracy--specifically the undemocratic consequences that result from relying too heavily on the initiative process. He provides historical context to the development of initiatives--from their Populist and Progressive roots to their accelerated use in recent decades--and a comparative context in which to understand the variations among states in their initiative processes.

While acknowledging the positive contribution of initiatives, Ellis shows that there are reasons to use them carefully and sparingly: ill-considered initiatives can subvert legislative checks and balances, undermine the deliberative process, and threaten the rights of minority groups. Today's initiative process, Ellis cautions, is dominated not by ordinary citizens but by politicians, perennial activists, wealthy interests, and well-oiled initiative machines. The importance of ballot titles in shaping the electoral outcome means that initiative elections often tell us more about the values of those who sponsor and frame initiatives than it does about the citizens who vote on them. The crowning irony, Ellis finds, is that because initiatives are so often challenged in court, both before and after they qualify for the ballot, direct democracy has helped to increase the power of the least democratic branch of government, the judiciary.

As voters prepare to consider the host of initiatives that will be offered in the 2002 elections, this book can help put direct legislation in a clearer light. Democratic Delusions urges moderation, attempting to teach citizens to be at least as skeptical of the initiative process as they are of the legislative process--and to appreciate the enduring value of the representative institutions they seek to circumvent.

Offers a systematic, theoretical, and structural framework for more accurate appraisal of the relative nature and influence of governing institutions and of past, present, and recurring developments on African-American and American Politics generally. It's a dynamic systematic appraisal of how African Americans fare within the prevailing theoretical, structural, and functioning patterns of the American political and governmental system. Offers new materials on Black Political participation and voting behavior, e.g., who votes in the Black community; the role of race, class, and gender in Black politics; the role of the economy in shaping the Black vote; the Black evaluations of their representatives in Congress. Comments on the changing nature and structure of African-American participation and influence in Congress and the Presidency: e.g., the Congressional Black Caucus and the overall relative role and participation of Blacks in congress and in the Clinton Presidency and Administration.