Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies (Comparative Politics) [Hardcover]

Russell J. Dalton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 20, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0199268436 | ISBN-13: 978-0199268436

Most democratic citizens today are distrustful of politicians, political parties, and political institutions. Where once democracies expected an allegiant public, citizens now question the very pillars of representative democracy. Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices documents the erosion of political support in virtually all advanced industrial democracies. Assembling an unprecedented array of cross-national public opinion data, this study traces the current challenges to democracy primary to changing citizen values and rising expectations. These critical citizens are concentrated among the young, the better educated, and the politically sophisticated. At the same time, the evidence debunks claims that such trends are a function of scandals, poor performance, and other government failures. Changing public are born from the successful social modernization of these nations. A creedal passion for democracy is sweeping across the Western democracies, and people now expect more of their governments. This study concludes by examining the consequences of these changing images of government. The author finds that these expectations are making governing more difficult, but also fueling demands for political reform. The choices that democracies make in response to these challenges may lead to a further expansion of the democratic process and a new relationship between citizens and their government

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In this impressive book, Dalton (Univ. of California, Irvine) presents a sophisticate and thorough comparative analysis of the erosion of political support in the long-term OECD democracies.... Highly Recommended."--Choice

"... provides the first full-fledged cross-national treatment of trust in institutions in this ambitious volume.... a very important book. It will become a landmark in the study of political support."--Political Science Quarterly

About the Author

Russell J. Dalton is a Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy and Professor of Political Science, University of California, Irvine.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 242 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199268436
• ISBN-13: 978-0199268436
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,658,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Russell Dalton is a professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine. His research and teaching focuses on the role of citizens in the political process, and how democracies can better address public preferences and the democratic ideal. He has authored or edited more than twenty books and more than a 150 research articles. Dalton has been awarded the Developing Scholar Award by Florida State University, a Fulbright Research Fellowship, Scholar-in-Residence at the Barbra Streisand Center, German Marshall Fund Research Fellowship, the POSCO Fellowship at the East West Center, and the UCI Emeriti Award for Faculty Mentorship. He was founding director of the Center for the Study of Democracy at UC Irvine.