Product details
- ISBN 9780275966034
- Publication Date: 30 Nov 1999
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Competitive elections are vital to any democracy. American elections and public policy making demonstrate many positive qualities, but, at the same time, are beset with serious problems. As the essays in this collection make clear, we sometimes get what we vote for, but often we do not.
Scheele and his contributors first examine the mechanics of American elections, including candidates' political communication, the impact of television, advertising, and polling on elections, the growing problem of campaign finance, and the new roles of political parties in elections. They then turn to the effect of elections on specific policies, including gender issues, social welfare, and Supreme Court policy making. In the concluding section, the volume reexamines election theories and practices, including the myth of electoral mandates, the adoption of proportional representation, the possibility that American elections are actually working well, the proposition that American politics is becoming so fragmented that critical realignments may no longer occur, and, conversely, that America is taking on some of the characteristics of parliamentary government.
PAUL E. SCHEELE is Professor Emeritus, Political Science, at SUNY at Oneonta./e Along with his 33-year career in teaching, Professor Scheele served in the U.S. Bureau of the Budget, assisted with Al Gore's first run for the U.S. Senate, and worked as a congressional staffer.
