| Description |
x, 156 pages ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
1. Getting Right Down to the Business of Design -- 2. Arguing for Arguing -- 3. Defending the Separation of Powers: The Failures of the Progressives -- 4. Checking and Balancing -- 5. Considering Possible Objections -- 6. Learning from the Jury Analogy -- 7. Setting the Agenda in Civil Society -- Conclusion, or Just the Beginning |
| Summary |
"We are taught in civics class that the Constitution provides for three basic branches of government, executive, judicial, and legislative. While the President and Congress as elected by popular vote are representative, can they really reflect accurately the will and sentiment of the populace? Or do money and power dominate everyday politics to the detriment of true self-governance? Is there a way to put "We the people" back into government? Ethan Leib thinks there is and offers this blueprint for a fourth branch of government as a way of giving the people a voice of their own." "While drawing on the rich theoretical literature about deliberative democracy, Leib concentrates on designing an institutional scheme for embedding deliberation in the practice of American democratic government. At the heart of his scheme is a process for the adjudication of issues of public policy by assemblies of randomly selected citizens convened to debate and vote on the issues, resulting in the enactment of laws subject both to judicial review and to possible veto by the executive and legislative branches. The "popular" branch would fulfill a purpose similar to the ballot initiative and referendum but would avoid the shortcomings associated with those forms of direct democracy. Leib takes special pains to show how this new branch would be integrated with the already existing governmental and political institutions of our society, including administrative agencies and political parties, and would thus complement rather than supplant them."--BOOK JACKET |
| Notes |
Formerly CIP. Uk |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [137]-147) and index |
| Subject |
Direct democracy -- United States.
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Deliberative democracy -- United States.
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Representative government and representation -- United States.
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Civil society -- United States.
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Legitimacy of governments -- United States.
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Social choice -- United States.
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| LC no. |
2003015486 |
| ISBN |
0271023635 cased |
|
0271026979 paperback |
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