- Alternative America
- John Thomas
- George's Progress and Poverty, Bellamy's Looking Backward, and Lloyd's Wealth against Commonwealth each in its turn became an international best-seller, championing a course of national policy that owed allegiance neither to the large-scale capitalist model then emerging, nor to the bureaucratic socialism espoused on the left. Through vivid and searching portraits of these three redoubtable journalists, prizewinning historian Thomas traces for the first time the evolving ideologies of the most significant reformers of their age.
- Hardcover
- The Case against Perfection
- Michael J. Sandel
- Genetic breakthroughs present us with a promise but also with a predicament: is it wrong to re-engineer our nature? Sandel explores this and other moral quandaries surrounding the quest to perfect ourselves and our children. He concludes that the pursuit of perfection is flawed for reasons that go beyond safety and fairness. The drive to enhance human nature through genetic technologies is objectionable because it represents a bid for mastery that fails to appreciate human achievements.
- Hardcover 2007
- China’s New Order
- Hui Wang
- Edited and translated by Theodore Huters
- Translated by Rebecca E. Karl
- Wang Hui is unique in China's intellectual world for his ability to synthesize an insider's knowledge of economics, politics, civilization, and Western critical theory. A participant in the Tiananmen Square movement, he is also the editor of the most important intellectual journal in contemporary China. He argues that the features of contemporary China are elements of the new global order as a whole in which considerations of economic growth and development have trumped every other concern, particularly those of democracy and social justice.
- Hardcover 2003 / Paperback 2006
- Christianity and American Democracy
- Hugh Heclo
- Mary Jo Bane
- Michael Kazin
- Alan Wolfe
- Christianity, not religion in general, has been important for American democracy. With this bold thesis, Heclo offers a panoramic view of how Christianity and democracy have shaped each other over the years, and how their relationship is changing in the present day. Responding to his challenging argument, Mary Jo Bane, Michael Kazin, and Alan Wolfe criticize, qualify, and amend it. The result is a lively debate about a momentous tension in American public life.
- Hardcover 2007
- Coffee and Power
- Jeffery M. Paige
- In the revolutionary decade between 1979 and 1992, it would have been difficult to find three political systems as different as deathsquad-dominated El Salvador, peaceful social-democratic Costa Rica, and revolutionary Sandinista Nicaragua. Yet when the fighting ended, all three had found a common destination in democracy and free markets. In a landmark book that fuses political economy and cultural analysis, Jeffery Paige shows that both the divergent political histories and their convergent outcome were shaped by a single commodity: coffee. His analysis challenges current theories of dictatorship and democracy, and shows that revolution in Central America is deeply rooted in the histories of the coffee elites.
- Hardcover 1997 / Paperback 1998
- Democracies in Development
- Edited by Mark Payne
- Edited by Daniel Zovatto
- Edited by Mercedes Mateo Diaz
- The advance of democracy in Latin America over the past quarter century has helped ensure respect for fundamental political freedoms, civil liberties, and human rights. Democracies in Development highlights how an effective democracy is also essential for sustainable economic and social development. The book analyzes the effects of institutions on democratic systems, identifies regional trends in political reform, and gauges the value and types of reform that may hold promise for strengthening democracy in the future.
- Paperback 2007
- Democracy Is in the Streets
- James Miller
- On June 12, 1962, sixty young activists drafted a manifesto for their generation--The Port Huron Statement--that ignited a decade of dissent. Democracy Is in the Streets is the definitive history of the people and ideas that shaped the New Left in America during the turbulent 1960s. From the ideal of "participatory democracy" to the reality of community organizing, from the most publicized radical leaders to less well known theorists and activists, James Miller brings to life the hopes and struggles, the triumphs and tragedies, of the students and organizers who took the political vision of The Port Huron Statement to heart--and to the streets.
- Paperback 1994
- Democracy and Disagreement
- Amy Gutmann
- Dennis Thompson
- Gutmann and Thompson show how a deliberative democracy can address some of our most difficult controversies--from abortion and affirmative action to health care and welfare--and can allow diverse groups to reason together.
- Hardcover 1996 / Paperback 1998
- Democracy and Poetry
- Robert Penn Warren
- Hardcover 1975 / Paperback
- Democracy's Discontent
- Michael J. Sandel
- In a searching account of current controversies over morality in politics, Michael Sandel discovers that we suffer from an impoverished vision of citizenship and community. Democracy's Discontent provides a new interpretation of the American political and constitutional tradition that offers hope of rejuvenating our civic life.
- Hardcover 1996 / Paperback 1998
- Democratic Accountability
- Leif Lewin
- Political leaders often claim they have no control over negative outcomes, citing that history rushes onward oblivious of human will. Lewin examines this reasoning and finds it unconvincing. In a staunch defense of the possibility for meaningful and profound democratic decision making, Lewin finds that, not only do political leaders exert enough control to be assigned responsibility, but also that the meaning of a functioning democracy requires the people to hold their leaders accountable.
- Hardcover 2007
- The Democratic Movement in Italy, 1830-1876
- Clara M. Lovett
- Hardcover 1982
- Freedom's Law
- Ronald Dworkin
- Ronald Dworkin argues that Americans have been systematically misled about what their Constitution is and how judges interpret it. In spirited and illuminating discussions of both recent constitutional cases and general constitutional principles, Ronald Dworkin argues that a distinctly American version of government based on the moral reading of the Constitution is in fact the best account of what democracy really is.
- Hardcover 1996 / Paperback 1997
- The Friends of Liberty
- Albert Goodwin
- Hardcover 1979
- From the Other Shore
- Andre Liebich
- This book is an inquiry into the possibilities of politics in exile. Russian Mensheviks, driven out of Soviet Russia and their party stripped of legal existence, functioned abroad in the West for an entire generation. For several years they also continued to operate underground in Soviet Russia. Bereft of the usual advantages of political actors, the Mensheviks succeeded in impressing their views upon social democratic parties and Western thinking about the Soviet Union.
- Hardcover 1997 / Paperback 1999
- German Social Democracy, 1905-1917
- Carl E. Schorske
- Paperback
- Inklings of Democracy in China
- Suzanne Ogden
- Since 1979 China's leaders have introduced reforms that have lessened the state's hold over the lives of ordinary citizens. By examining the growth in individual rights, the public sphere, democratic processes, and pluralization, Ogden seeks to answer questions concerning the relevance of liberal democratic ideas for China and the relationship between a democratic political culture and a democratic political system.
- Paperback 2002 / Hardcover 2002
- The Irony of Free Speech
- Owen Fiss
- How free is the speech of someone who can't be heard? Not very--and this, Owen Fiss suggests in this incisive book, is where the First Amendment comes in. He reframes the debate by showing how restrictions on political expenditures, hate speech, and pornography can be defended in terms of the First Amendment, not despite it.
- Hardcover 1996 / Paperback 1998
- Japan's Political Marketplace
- J. Mark Ramseyer
- Frances M. Rosenbluth
- Mark Ramseyer and Frances McCall Rosenbluth show how rational-choice theory can be applied to Japanese politics. Using the concept of principal and agent, they construct a persuasive account of political relationships in Japan.
- Hardcover 1993 / Paperback 1997
- The Key of Liberty
- Michael Merrill, Editor
- Sean Wilentz, Editor
- The Key of Liberty offers, better than any book yet published, a grassroots view of the rise of democratic opposition in the new nation. It sheds considerable light on the popular culture--literary, religious, and profane--of the epoch.
- Hardcover 1993 / Paperback 1993
- Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy
- Richard A. Posner
- Richard Posner argues for a conception of the liberal state based on pragmatic theories of government. He views the actions of elected officials as guided by interests rather than by reason and the decisions of judges by discretion rather than by rules. He emphasizes the institutional and material, rather than moral and deliberative, factors in democratic decision making. Posner argues that democracy is best viewed as a competition for power by means of regular elections. Citizens should not be expected to play a significant role in making complex public policy regarding, say, taxes or missile defense.
- Hardcover 2003 / Paperback 2005
- Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History
- Frederick Merk
- John Mack Faragher
- Paperback 1995
- Money for Nothing
- Fred S. McChesney
- The increased power of lobbyists in Washington and the excesses of campaign contributions would seem to indicate a government corrupted. But as Fred McChesney shows, payments to politicians are often made not for political favors, but to avoid political disfavor. This book, standing squarely at the intersection of law, political science, and economics, vividly illustrates the patterns of legal extortion underlying the current fabric of interest-group politics.
- Hardcover 1997
- Nature and History in American Political Development
- James W. Ceaser
- Foreword by Theda Skocpol
- In this inaugural volume of the Alexis de Tocqueville Lectures, James Ceaser traces the way certain "foundational" ideas--including nature, history, and religion--have been understood and used over the course of American history. Ceaser treats these ideas as elements of political discourse that provide the ground for other political ideas, such as liberty or equality. Three critical commentators challenge Ceaser's arguments, and a spirited debate about large and enduring questions in American politics ensues.
- Hardcover 2006 / Paperback 2008
- Political Participation in Beijing
- Tianjian Shi
- In this first scientific survey of political participation in the People's Republic of China, Tianjian Shi finds that in a society where communication channels are controlled by the government, access to information from unofficial means becomes the single most important determinant for people's engaging in participatory acts.
- Paperback 1997 / Hardcover 1997
- The Quest for Democracy in Iran
- Fakhreddin Azimi
- The Constitutional Revolution of 1906 launched Iran as a pioneer in a broad-based movement to establish democratic rule in the non-Western world. In a book that provides essential context for understanding modern Iran, Azimi traces a century of struggle for the establishment of representative government.
- Hardcover 2008
- The Republican Moment
- Phillip Nord
- Philip Nord shows how France effected a successful transition from Louis-Napoleon's authoritarian Second Empire to a functioning republic based on universal suffrage and governed by middle-class parliamentarians. His multidimensional narrative encompasses not only history and politics but also religion, philosophy, art, literature, and gender.
- Hardcover 1995 / Paperback 1998
- The Return of Civil Society
- Víctor Pérez-Díaz
- Víctor Pérez-Díaz examines the return of civil society in Spain. He covers the transition of Spain from a preindustrial economy, an authoritarian government, and a Roman Catholic-dominated culture to a modern state based on the interaction of economic and class interests, on a market society, on voluntary associations such as trade unions and political parties, and on a culture of moral autonomy and rationality.
- Paperback 1998 / Hardcover
- Saving Persuasion
- Bryan Garsten
- In Saving Persuasion, Bryan Garsten uncovers the early modern origins of today's suspicious attitude toward rhetoric and seeks to loosen its grip on contemporary political theory. He argues that the artful practice of persuasion ought to be viewed as a crucial part of democratic politics. Against theorists who advocate a rationalized ideal of deliberation aimed at consensus, Garsten argues that a controversial politics of partiality and passion can produce a more engaged and more deliberative kind of democratic discourse.
- Hardcover 2006
- Socialism in Galicia
- John-Paul Himka
- Paperback 1983
- Sowing the Seeds of Democracy in China
- Merle Goldman
- The West's leading authority on the role of intellectuals in contemporary China presents a percipient account of the efforts at political reform in the Deng Xiaoping era.
- Paperback / Hardcover
- Where Have All the Voters Gone?
- Martin P. Wattenberg
- Paperback 2002 / Hardcover 2002