Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART I THE BENEFITS OF STUDYING THE PROCESSES PEOPLE WANT
- PART II THE PROCESSES PEOPLE WANT
- PART III SHOULD PEOPLE BE GIVEN THE PROCESSES THEY WANT?
- 7 Popular Deliberation and Group Involvement in Theory
- 8 The Realities of Popular Deliberation and Group Involvement
- 9 Improving Government and People's Attitudes toward It
- Epilogue
- Appendix A
- Appendix B
- References
- Index
- Titles in the series
7 - Popular Deliberation and Group Involvement in Theory
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART I THE BENEFITS OF STUDYING THE PROCESSES PEOPLE WANT
- PART II THE PROCESSES PEOPLE WANT
- PART III SHOULD PEOPLE BE GIVEN THE PROCESSES THEY WANT?
- 7 Popular Deliberation and Group Involvement in Theory
- 8 The Realities of Popular Deliberation and Group Involvement
- 9 Improving Government and People's Attitudes toward It
- Epilogue
- Appendix A
- Appendix B
- References
- Index
- Titles in the series
Summary
Just what is it about the political system that needs improving? Political theorists have long been convinced that a successful democratic governmental system will accomplish three tasks: (1) It will make good decisions; (2) it will be perceived as legitimate; and (3) it will help the people in society become better people. In considering systemic reforms, as we do in this chapter, we are not implying that the American political system is a failure; rather, we are recognizing only that the extent to which any democracy is accomplishing these three tasks can always be improved and that every effort should be made to do so. But the first goal of any reformer should be to do no harm, and, on the basis of the findings presented in Part II, we fear that the reform proposals currently attracting the most attention would actually do significant harm.
REFORMING (OR IMPROVING) AMERICAN POLITICS
Ideas for improving the political system are probably about as numerous as people, but to help organize the various types of changes that could be preferred, we offer Figure 7.1. In this figure, the governing process is divided into two steps: predecision consideration and the decision itself. The key players in each step can either be the people themselves or elites. Though overly simplistic, this conceptualization at least makes it possible to categorize reforms according to the particular procedure advocates want to modify.
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- Information
- Stealth DemocracyAmericans' Beliefs About How Government Should Work, pp. 163 - 182Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002