The recent financial and economic crisis has forced governments and people from around the globe to ask some hard questions about how democracy has evolved. Some of these are old questions; others are new. Is democracy really the most desirable form of government? How democratic is policy-making during the financial and economic crisis? Why do vote-seeking parties in modern democracies actually make voters miserable? Can women’s under-representation in politics be explained because of voter bias? Why are some citizens still excluded from voting in their country? And can terrorist organizations that promote violence one day, really become democratic the next?
This represents the first book of its kind to ask and answer a broad range of hard questions that need to be addressed in times of both flux and calls for democratic change throughout the world. It does so by bringing together leading social scientists and rising stars from around the globe. Interdisciplinary in its analysis, it is essential reading for students of comparative and international politics, political philosophy, gender studies and economics.
The book's website can be found at: www.democracyquestions.com and it was originally published as a special issue of Irish Political Studies.
1. Introduction - Introducing Hard Questions for Democracy Raj Chari, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Part I – Democracy and Legitimacy
2. Democracy and Moral Autonomy James L. Hyland, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
3. The Values of Democratic Proceduralism Gerry Mackie, University of California, USA
Section II – Democracy and The Markets
4. Financial and Economic Crisis: Theoretical Explanations of the Global Sunset Patrick Bernhagen, University of Aberdeen, UK and Raj Chari, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
5. Financial and Economic Crisis: Explaining the Sunset Over the Celtic Tiger Raj Chari, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and Patrick Bernhagen, University of Aberdeen, UK
Section III – Democracy, Political Parties and Voters
6. Why Vote-Seeking Parties May Make Voters Miserable Michael Laver, New York University, USA
7. What Gives Politics Such a Bad Name Heinz Brandenburg, University of Aberdeen, UK
8. Can Compactness Constrain the Gerrymander Macartan Humphreys, Columbia University, USA
9. Electing Women to the Dáil: Gender Cues and the Irish Voter Gail McElroy and Michael Marsh, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
10. Parties and Referendums in Ireland, 1937-2011 Michael Gallagher, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Section IV – Democracy and Participation
11. Should Irish Emigrants Have Votes? External Voting in Ireland Iseult Honohan, University College Dublin, Ireland
12. Can the Internet Reinvent Democracy? Maria Laura Sudulich, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Section V – Democracy, Violence and Conflict
13. Are the Citizens of a Democracy a Just Target for Terrorists? Colm McKeogh, University of Waikato, New Zealand
14. Bombings to Ballots: The Evolution of the Irish Republican Movement’s Conceptualization of Democracy Garrett O’Boyle, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Biography
Raj Chari is Associate Professor in Political Science at Trinity College Dublin.
