Democracy, America, and the Age of Globalization

Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-521-88589-8
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 176 Seiten, HC gerader Rücken kaschiert, Format (B × H): 145 mm x 222 mm, Gewicht: 362 g

Because political campaigns in the United States are privately funded, America's political system is heavily biased toward the interests of wealthy campaign contributors. As a result, government policies have largely ignored the growth in income inequality caused by technological change and economic globalization. This omission has been tolerated because most Americans do not support interventionist government policies. They believe that the government serves the interests of the campaign donors rather than the public. This skepticism concerning the public sector's fairness must be overcome before effective programs to offset mounting inequality can be implemented. Though in recent years legislation to reform the financing of political campaigns has been adopted, private wealth continues to dominate the political process. Political cynicism therefore persists. A voluntary system of public funding of candidates for office is required to generate the trust in the public sector necessary to reverse the trend toward inequality.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mandle, Jay R.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Globalisierung, Transformationsprozesse
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Globalisierung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Staats- und Regierungsformen, Staatslehre

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. The economics of inequality; 2. The politics of inequality; 3. The funding and biases of American politics; 4. History and reform efforts; 5. The problem of government; 6. The need for public financing; 7. Organizing for democracy.

Über Autor(innen)

Mandle, Jay R.
Jay R. Mandle, currently W. Bradford Wiley Professor of Economics at Colgate University, has also taught at Temple University and the University of the West Indies. Mandle has been a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley, and twice been a Fulbright Lecturer, once at the University of Guyana and once at Nankai University, China. Among his many publications, Professor Mandle recently published Globalization and the Poor (2003).