Critical Pluralism, Democratic Performance, and Community Power
eBook - ePub

Critical Pluralism, Democratic Performance, and Community Power

  1. 280 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Critical Pluralism, Democratic Performance, and Community Power

About this book

A central question in political science is who governs and how.

Typically political scientists attempt to answer this question by relying upon either empirical analysis, which explains existing political practices, or normative analysis, which prescribes ideal political practices.

Political scientist Paul Schumaker rejects this distinction between empirical and normative theory. Instead, he weds the two approaches to create the new analytical mode he calls critical pluralism. With it he can measure variances in government from pluralist/democratic ideals and still provide theoretical explanations of why the variances occurred.

Schumaker uses critical pluralism to describe, explain, and evaluate variations in three key measures of democratic performance: responsible representation, complex equality, and principle-policy congruence. To test his framework and methodology he analyzes 29 community issues that arose in Lawrence, Kansas, between 1977 and 1987. The results of his study—one of the most comprehensive databases ever in the study of community politics—will be of interest to those who study community power. The conceptual framework itself and methodology used in assessing democratic performance will have a lasting impact on the way community government is studied.

Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program.

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Yes, you can access Critical Pluralism, Democratic Performance, and Community Power by Paul Schumaker in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & American Government. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Front Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. List of Acronyms
  8. Preface to Kansas Open Books Edition
  9. Preface
  10. 1 Evaluating Democratic Performance in Community Policymaking
  11. 2 Three Ideals of Pluralist Democracy
  12. 3 A Comparative Analysis of Twenty-nine Lawrence Issues
  13. 4 Competing Principles and Urban Ideologies
  14. 5 Challenging Existing Institutions and Leadership
  15. 6 Developing the Local Economy
  16. 7 Protecting the Neighborhoods
  17. 8 Restricting Individual Choices
  18. 9 Providing Public Services and Welfare
  19. 10 Saving the Downtown
  20. 11 Political Culture: Principles, Preferences, and Policies
  21. 12 Political Power: Participants, Citizens, and Democracy
  22. 13 Political Justice: Divisions, Standings, and Complex Equality
  23. 14 Critical Pluralism and the Rules of the Game
  24. Appendix: Determining the Principles at Stake on Concrete Issues
  25. Notes
  26. References
  27. Index
  28. Back Cover