Controlling Governments

ISBN-13: 9780521884105 / Angielski / Twarda / 2007 / 326 str.

Maravall, Jose Maria

Opis

This book contributes to debates in positive democratic theory about accountability and representation. It bridges the gap between formal models and theoretically weak empirical analyses. The chapters stay close to the results of the formal literature, but they provide a more realistic description of how the democratic control of governments operates. The book studies the many obstacles that citizens face to hold governments accountable: (1) voters combine judgments of past performance with other considerations such as ideological or ethnic criteria; (2) parties in office may limit the information of voters; and (3) institutions bias the exercise of accountability."

Recenzje

'The chapters in Controlling Governments are coherent and well argued, and the arguments are well defended. In fact, it reads like a special issue of a journal …' Political Studies Review

Spis treści

Introduction; 1. Explaining the electoral performance of incumbents in democracies Belén Barreiro; 2. How can governments be accountable if voters vote ideologically? Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca; 3. Enduring ethnicity: the political survival of incumbent ethnic parties in western democracies Sonia Alonso; 4. Performance or representation? The determinants of voting in complex political contexts Paloma Aguilar and Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca; 5. Political knowledge and the logic of voting: a comparative study Marta Fraile; 6. The political consequences of internal party democracy José María Maravall; 7. Choosing rules for government: the institutional preferences of early Socialist parties Alberto Penadés; 8. Constitutions and democratic breakdowns Alicia Adserá and Carles Boix.