Romanticizing Democracy and the Decline of American Government |
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| Author:
| Pildes, Rick |
| Series title: | Inalienable Rights Ser. |
| ISBN: | 978-0-19-046882-8 |
| Publication Date: | Oct 2017 |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press, Incorporated
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| Book Format: | Hardback |
| List Price: | USD $24.95 |
Book Description:
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In Romanticizing Democracy and the Decline of American Government, Rick Pildes argues that the United States' rights-oriented approach to democracy envisions a government whose individual citizens are the central political actors. This abstract principle, according to Pildes, facilitates naivety on all sides, ignoring the power of political structures and institutions and undermining the capacity of the democratic system to function effectively. Pildes' bold, counterintuitive thesis...
More DescriptionIn Romanticizing Democracy and the Decline of American Government, Rick Pildes argues that the United States' rights-oriented approach to democracy envisions a government whose individual citizens are the central political actors. This abstract principle, according to Pildes, facilitates naivety on all sides, ignoring the power of political structures and institutions and undermining the capacity of the democratic system to function effectively. Pildes' bold, counterintuitive thesis will force us to rethink our views on democratic rights--not in the sense of dispensing with them but with regard to how an abstract idealization of them in isolation can wreak havoc on effective political institutions.