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Examines the history underlying the use of supermajority voting rules and offers a critique of their ability to remedy the defects of majority decision making.

The book addresses central issues in democratic theory by analyzing the sources of widespread dissatisfaction with democracies around the world. The focus is on the generic limits of democracy in promoting equality, effective participation, control of governments by citizens, and liberty.

In Democracy and Legal Change, Melissa Schwartzberg argues that modifying law is a fundamental and attractive democratic activity. Schwartzberg seeks to demonstrate historically the strategic and even unjust purposes unamendable laws have typically served, and to highlight the regrettable consequences that entrenchment may have for democracies today.

It is widely believed that autocratic regimes cannot limit their power through institutions of their own making. This book presents a surprising challenge to this view. It demonstrates that the Chilean armed forces were constrained by institutions of their own design.

Is economic development conducive to political democracy? Does democracy hinder material welfare? These two questions are examined by looking at 135 countries between 1950 and 1990. Descriptive information and statistical analyses are interwoven to gain an understanding of the dynamic of political regimes and their impact on economic development.

The long revolutionary movements that gave birth to constitutional democracies in the Americas were founded on egalitarian constitutional ideals. They claimed that all men were created equal with similar capacities and also that the community should become self-governing. Following the first constitutional debates that took place in the region, these promising egalitarian claims, which gave legitimacy to the revolutions, soon fell out of favor. Advocates of a conservative order challenged both ideals and favored constitutions that established religion and created an exclusionary political structure. Liberals proposed constitutions that protected individual autonomy and rights but established severe restrictions on the principle of majority rule. Radicals favored an openly majoritarian constitutional organization that, according to many, directly threatened the protection of individual rights. This book examines the influence of these opposite views during the 'founding period' of constitutionalism in countries including the United States, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.

This book examines the current state of Russia and the prospects for democracy in the light of the experience of existing democracies. Posing several challenges to our understanding of democracy, thirteen contributors argue some of the central questions vital to understanding the conditions of emergence and survival of successful democracies.

This book examines whether the mechanisms of accountability characteristic of democracies, are sufficient to induce the representatives to act in the best interest of the represented.

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.

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.

It is sometimes assumed that voting is the central mechanism for political decision-making. The contributors to this volume focus on an alternative mechanism, that is decision by discussion or deliberation. Rather than assuming that deliberative democracy is always ideal, the authors critically probe its limits and weaknesses as well as its strengths.

This book addresses the question of why governments sometimes follow the law and other times choose to evade the law. It interprets the rule of law as a strategic choice of actors with powerful interests, rather than as an exogenous constraint on politicians.

This book examines whether the mechanisms of accountability characteristic of democracies, are sufficient to induce the representatives to act in the best interest of the represented.

It is sometimes assumed that voting is the central mechanism for political decision-making. The contributors to this volume focus on an alternative mechanism, that is decision by discussion or deliberation. Rather than assuming that deliberative democracy is always ideal, the authors critically probe its limits and weaknesses as well as its strengths.

This book addresses the question of why governments sometimes follow the law and other times choose to evade the law. It interprets the rule of law as a strategic choice of actors with powerful interests, rather than as an exogenous constraint on politicians.