Bøger af Robert A. Dahl

For most of this century, the habit of thinking about politics and economics in terms of grand and simple alternatives has exerted a powerful influence over the minds of those concerned with economic organization

A thoughtful and often provocative analysis of the factors operating in Congress that make difficult the formulation of a foreign policy control. Three criteria are indicated:- provisions for responsible leadership, facilitating of agreement, leads to rational policies. Is it attainable of desirable to relieve Congress of the responsibility and yet save democracy? He explores the influences on Congress, the constituents, the pressure groups, personal preferences and predilections, the difficulties in attaining facts of public opinion, etc. The power of the executive is up; is this wise and can it be controlled? The citizen has inadequate facilities for sound discussion, and a better system of communication is needed, between citizen and Congress. How raise the citizen's competence? Congressional competence? The responsibilities of the political parties must be intensified; at present there is substantially no difference on foreign policy. He then views the experiments in collaboration, in bipartisanship, and the problems of agreement, and urges five points that need strengthening:- prediction, planning, flexibility, speed and adequacy. (One might venture the opinion that the last is the most difficult of all.) A publication under the Yale Institute of International Studies. Not likely to reach a very wide general market. (Kirkus Reviews)

This work questions the extent to which the American Constitution furthers democratic goals. It reveals the Constitution's potentially antidemocratic elements and explains why they are there, compares the American constitutional system to other democratic systems, and more.

Robert Dahl's "Preface "helped launch democratic theory fifty years ago as a new area of study in political science, and it remains the standard introduction to the field. Exploring problems that had been left unsolved by traditional thought on democracy, Dahl here examines two influential models--the Madisonian, which represents prevailing American doctrine, and its recurring challenger, populist theory--arguing that they do not accurately portray how modern democracies operate. He then constructs a model more consistent with how contemporary democracies actually function, and, in doing so, develops some original views of popular sovereignty and the American constitutional system. For this fiftieth-anniversary edition, Dahl has written an extensive new afterword that reevaluates Madisonian theory in light of recent research. And in a new foreword, he reflects back on his influential volume and the ways his views have evolved since he wrote it. For any student or scholar of political science, this new material is an essential update on a gold standard in the evolving field of democratic theory. ""A Preface to Democratic Theory" is well worth the devoted attention of anyone who cares about democracy."--"Political Science Quarterly "

"In this now-classic work, one of the most celebrated political scientists of the twentieth century offers a powerful interpretation of the location of political power in American urban communities. For this new edition, Robert A. Dahl has written a new Preface in which he reflects on" Who Governs? more than four decades after its publication. And in a new Foreword, Douglas W. Rae offers an assessment of Dahl's achievement in this, Dahl's greatest and most influential book.

"A tightly woven explanation of the conditions under which cultures that do not tolerate political opposition may be transformed into societies that do."--Foreign Affairs "[Dahl's] analysis is lucid, perceptive, and thorough."--Times Literary Supplement Amidst all the emotional uproar about democracy and the widespread talk of revolution comes this clear call to reason--a mind-stretching book that equips the young and the old suddenly to see an ageless problem of society in a new and exciting way. Everything Dahl says can be applied in a fascinating way to the governing of any human enterprise involving more than one person--whether it is a nation-state, a political party, a business firm, or a university.

Winner of the 1991 Elaine and David Spitz Book Prize for the best book on liberal and/or democratic theory, this book discusses what democracy is and why it is important. It examines basic assumptions of democratic theory and tests them against the questions raised by critics.