This book offers a re-examination of the evidence about citizens' capacity for self-governance and what it means for the future of democratic politics, from both empirical and normative perspectives.

Are ordinary citizens capable of governing themselves? For more than three decades, social scientists have accumulated evidence of the undemocratic propensities of many ordinary citizens. This has caused some to worry about the stability of existing democratic institutions, while others argue that the institutions themselves are the problem: politics needs to be democratized further,...

Henry Adams, great-grandson of John Adams, grandson of John Quincy Adams, and author of the Pulitzer Prize--winning The Education of Henry Adams, is often overlooked as a serious political thinker. Many scholars have dismissed his writings as cynical and bitter while others regard him as a mere observer of American politics, accepting Adams's description of himself as a "stable-companion to statesmen." A Political Companion to Henry Adams suggests that he was far more.

In this provocative collection, editor Natalie Fuehrer Taylor presents works by some of the leading political...

Russell Hanson discovers in the history of democratic rhetoric in the United States a series of essential contests" over the meaning of democracy that have occurred in periods of political and socio-economic change.

Originally published in 1985.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The...