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title: "Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government (Princeton Studies in Political Behavior): 4"
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# Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government (Princeton Studies in Political Behavior): 4

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## Description

Buy Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government (Princeton Studies in Political Behavior): 4 Revised by Achen, Christopher H., Bartels, Larry M. (ISBN: 9780691178240) from desertcart's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

Review: Five Stars - As described, quick delivery
Review: Points of compelling interest about democracy and voting, but embedded in an academic treatise that is quite hard to read - This book explores voter behaviour in the US and seems to demonstrate beyond doubt that some theories of democracy don't work. So voters have their lives to lead and don't have the time or the inclination to get to grips with complex issues or 'who's who' really in terms of what they stand for, in primary elections. Most people know 'jaw-droppingly little' about politics. This doesn't stop them voting, of course - in referendums voting for 'something for nothing' if they can (reducing the costs of fire prevention - to see their fire insurance go up; or voting for a 20% reduction in car insurance rates, which proved to be unimplementable). When the authors look at what impact past experience has on voting, they find that voters blame US Presidents for events that are clearly outside their control - so shark attacks off the New Jersey shore cost Woodrow Wilson votes and droughts cost US Presidents votes at any time. Voters do take their own economic prosperity into account too - but they look just at the last 12 months, and not over the four-year term that US Presidents serve. So what does drive voting? The authors believe it's largely group affiliation, often a group affiliation we are born into which explains 'how do people like me vote?' This tends to be a generational effect and changes are slow (as when the US South ceased to feel naturally Democrat and came to feel naturally Republican.) it can change on a temporary basis - observant Catholics feeling that 'people like me vote for Kennedy' more than 'I'm a Republican and people like me vote for Nixon'. And it can change permanently - some women have forsaken the Republican party over their pro-life stance. A positive theory of democracy is not well formed in the book though the authors turn to this in the final chapter. The authors refer to Plato at one point, but not to Karl Popper whose work on Plato may offer the best way forward and which underlies in one part of their case for democracy. Perhaps the critical element is that democracy enables peaceful transitions of power (like the refutations of a scientific theory in the world view of Popper). So we avoid our rulers becoming corrupted by power. The obverse side of this is that we have to expect no special expertise among those who rule us - we are not looking for philosopher kings in our politicians. (If you believe the authors of this book, we need people skilled in brokering compromises between interest groups - and that may not be so far from the truth.) The book is written as an academic treatise and is quite hard going as a reading experience for the general reader. The points it makes, however, are of compelling interest.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | 138,035 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 3,477 in Philosophy (Books) |
| Customer reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (364) |
| Dimensions  | 15.24 x 2.54 x 20.32 cm |
| Edition  | Revised |
| ISBN-10  | 0691178240 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0691178240 |
| Item weight  | 340 g |
| Language  | English |
| Part of series  | Princeton Studies in Political Behavior |
| Print length  | 408 pages |
| Publication date  | 29 Aug. 2017 |
| Publisher  | Princeton University Press |

## Images

![Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government (Princeton Studies in Political Behavior): 4 - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71un6t+vKlL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Five Stars
*by P***R on 26 April 2018*

As described, quick delivery

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Points of compelling interest about democracy and voting, but embedded in an academic treatise that is quite hard to read
*by W***N on 1 July 2016*

This book explores voter behaviour in the US and seems to demonstrate beyond doubt that some theories of democracy don't work. So voters have their lives to lead and don't have the time or the inclination to get to grips with complex issues or 'who's who' really in terms of what they stand for, in primary elections. Most people know 'jaw-droppingly little' about politics. This doesn't stop them voting, of course - in referendums voting for 'something for nothing' if they can (reducing the costs of fire prevention - to see their fire insurance go up; or voting for a 20% reduction in car insurance rates, which proved to be unimplementable). When the authors look at what impact past experience has on voting, they find that voters blame US Presidents for events that are clearly outside their control - so shark attacks off the New Jersey shore cost Woodrow Wilson votes and droughts cost US Presidents votes at any time. Voters do take their own economic prosperity into account too - but they look just at the last 12 months, and not over the four-year term that US Presidents serve. So what does drive voting? The authors believe it's largely group affiliation, often a group affiliation we are born into which explains 'how do people like me vote?' This tends to be a generational effect and changes are slow (as when the US South ceased to feel naturally Democrat and came to feel naturally Republican.) it can change on a temporary basis - observant Catholics feeling that 'people like me vote for Kennedy' more than 'I'm a Republican and people like me vote for Nixon'. And it can change permanently - some women have forsaken the Republican party over their pro-life stance. A positive theory of democracy is not well formed in the book though the authors turn to this in the final chapter. The authors refer to Plato at one point, but not to Karl Popper whose work on Plato may offer the best way forward and which underlies in one part of their case for democracy. Perhaps the critical element is that democracy enables peaceful transitions of power (like the refutations of a scientific theory in the world view of Popper). So we avoid our rulers becoming corrupted by power. The obverse side of this is that we have to expect no special expertise among those who rule us - we are not looking for philosopher kings in our politicians. (If you believe the authors of this book, we need people skilled in brokering compromises between interest groups - and that may not be so far from the truth.) The book is written as an academic treatise and is quite hard going as a reading experience for the general reader. The points it makes, however, are of compelling interest.

### ⭐⭐⭐ Too Academic, Dry and the conclusions are nothing new
*by R***O on 8 January 2020*

I bought this book because I'm super interested in the topic. But the writing is exceedingly academic, the studies shown are mostly stuff you'd already know from Wikipedia if you have any interest in the topic, and the ideas presented are shallow and mostly unexplanatory. There's also not even an attempt at an hypothesis of how democracy actually works, what are its results, and any ideas on how to fix it. Weaker than I could've possibly expected and on top of that, blindly academic.

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