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Democracy for Realists
Book

Democracy for Realists

Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government

Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels
Princeton UP, 2016

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Scientific
  • Eye Opening

Recommendation

The stunning 2016 election outcomes around the world have raised questions about the workings of democracy. Political scientists Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels go further and say that democracy doesn’t work – at least not the way most people imagine. Achen and Bartels argue that voters don’t make reasoned, purposeful selections at the ballot box; instead, their social identities determine their partisan loyalties and political choices. Citing research and analyses from early 20th-century studies through the present day, the authors take apart one comfortable assumption about democracy after another. They then propose a new theory of democracy – less idealistic, but better suited to the real world and real voters. Although lay readers might find the detailed data analyses tedious, getAbstract recommends persevering through to the authors’ fascinating conclusions.

Take-Aways

  • The populist or “folk” view of democracy holds that democratic processes translate the people’s will into policy. 
  • Conventional notions of how democracy works fall apart in the light of experience and research. 
  • Most voters lack the knowledge and motivation to serve their supposed function as citizens of a democracy.

About the Authors

Christopher H. Achen is the Roger Williams Straus Professor of Social Sciences and professor of politics at Princeton University. Larry M. Bartels holds the May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science at Vanderbilt University. 

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