Democracy Transformed? Expanding Political Opportunities in Advanced Industrial Democracies

Extract

Democracy Transformed? Expanding Political Opportunities in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Edited by Bruce E. Cain, Russell J. Dalton, and Susan E. Scarrow. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 328p. $49.95.

For those who assume that within those countries we commonly consider to be the wealthiest and most stable liberal democracies, there exists a single shape, form, and formula for democracy itself, they need to consult this bold, innovative, and informative volume. Bruce Cain, Russell Dalton, and Susan Scarrow have edited a superb collection of 11 chapters (including the introduction), written by 15 internationally renowned students of comparative political analysis (including the editors), dealing with a simple and clear set of questions, namely: 1) Has representative democracy among the most industrially advanced liberal democracies of the world undergone a series of reforms during the past 20 years or so? 2) What is the nature and form of this reform? 3) In what way, if at all, has this change affected the quality and nature of democracy in these countries?