For The Many Or The Few

Direct democracy is alive and well in the United States. Citizens are increasingly using initiatives and referendums to take the law into their own hands, overriding their elected officials to set tax, expenditure, and social policies. John G. Matsusaka's For the Many or the Few provides the first even-handed and historically based treatment of the subject. Drawing upon a century of evidence, Matsusaka argues against the popular belief that initiative measures are influenced by wealthy special interest groups that neglect the majority view. Examining demographic, political, and opinion data, he demonstrates how the initiative process brings about systematic changes in tax and expenditure policies of state and local governments that are generally supported by the citizens. He concludes that, by and large, direct democracy in the form of the initiative process works for the benefit of the many rather than the few. An unprecedented, comprehensive look at the historical, empirical, and theoretical components of how initiatives function within our representative democracy to increase political competition while avoiding the tyranny of the majority, For the Many or the Few is a most timely and definitive work.

Social scientists are concerned with élites of many kinds - bureaucracies, military oligarchies, political leaders and the like. The study of élites is frequently characterised by a certain suspicion, and the tone of the enquirer’s description and discussion of such groups is often sceptical if not actually hostile. While not simply an attempt to redress the balance, this book is intended to provide the reader with a fair idea of the nature and variety of élites and to offer some explanantions as to why societies over a remarkably wide range of time, space and economic development have evolved a structure in which a small group exercises a disproportionate power over the great mass of their fellows. The first section deals with theoretical approaches to élites and élitism, summarising and criticising work from Plato and Weber, Popper, Scruton and Bottomore. The second section consists of a number of historical and contemporary case studies, ranging from Classical Athens to late twentieth-century Western society, which individually and in combination illustrate and amplify the theoretical material. The final section draws together the main arguments in the form of a critique and conclusions.

This book analyzes the relationship between the many and the few in the formation of a republican polity. It studies the case of Buenos Aires in the 1860s and 1870s, when the inauguration of a new national order in Argentina entailed a radical change in the ways of power. By exploring the different forms of participation of the people in the public life of the city, it illuminates a frequently neglected side of the process of construction and legitimization of political power in nineteenth-century Latin American societies. It also provides new historical evidence on the origins of democracy in Argentina, and proposes an interpretation of that process that challenges prevailing views. The book focuses on two major topics: the history of elections and electoral practices, and the creation and development of a public sphere. Its detailed, and often colorful, description of electoral procedures portrays a dynamic and competitive political life that contradicts traditional interpretations of the history of citizenship in Argentina. The author also argues that elections were not the only major element in the relationship between the many and the few, that these decades witnessed the formation of a public sphere: a space of mediation between civil society and the political realm, where different groups voiced their opinions and directly represented their claims. She studies three aspects of the life of the city that were symptoms of this process: the proliferation of associations, the expansion of the periodical press, and the development of a "culture of mobilization.” The book concludes by assessing how its conclusions offer new clues to the study of the Argentine political system, the history of Latin American democracies, and, more generally, the relations between the many and the few in modern societies.

Cities are the focus of much of our national life. So it is right that cities are a focus of government policy, after many years of neglect. However, New Labour policy on cities (still in the making) lacks a framing vision of:what cities are forwho they are forwhat kinds of societies they might most democratically embody.Cities for the many not the few reflects on the development of policy towards cities so far, by asking some of the bigger questions about how we might imagine cities in this new century.The authors question the belief that the future of cities lies in just the knowledge economy. Further, they claim that current government thoughts on who should make decisions in cities lacks an overall conception of 'urban citizenship'.The case is argued for a strategy that seeks empowerment across the social spectrum, which feels comfortable with the reconstruction of cities as plural and open.Cities for the many not the few is essential reading for researchers, practitioners and activists interested in the future of urban life.

A FACTUAL, TRUE ACCOUNT OF A CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST’S LIFE STORY TOLD FROM THE FRONT LINES OF THE BATTLEFIELDS IN MISSISSIPPI. WHEN THE BATTLE CHANGES FROM FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS TO FIGHTING TO SAVE HER OWN LIFE AGAINST BREAST CANCER, MEDICAL SCIENCE AND FAITH END UP ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH ONLY ONE OUTCOME: LIFE OR DEATH. Book Reviews I urge everyone who wants an inspired account of God's unending love for his children to read this book. Stephanie has witnessed for justice, and spoken truth to power through many dangers, toils and snares, always trusting God to see her through. Now, she tells how God moves in mysterious ways to see her through another kind of peril. Her strong faith will be a blessing! - Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery “Dean” of the Civil Rights Movement President Emeritus, SCLC Former Chairman, Black Leadership Forum Delivered Benediction at President Barack Obama’s Inauguration Stephanie’s life is one of courage and commitment. Here is a story of standing your ground and fighting for our future. This book is a gift to all... - Benjamin Todd Jealous President and CEO, NAACP Intense, as well as therapeutic. Stephanie’s story puts life in perspective for folks. - Dorothy T. Terry, Ph.D Former High School English Teacher of Author This book goes to the core of the reader’s total consciousness about any experience, either personal or vicarious, with any form of cancer. Stephanie Parker-Weaver bares her soul and opens a window for the rest of us to see how a true survivor copes with trauma after trauma. This is a lesson for each of us who reads her book. She is deliberate in writing in such a manner that her own struggle is under-played while she educates the rest of us about the Her2 gene. REBIRTH: A Breast Cancer Journey of Many; Survival of Few, written in Stephanie’s own inimitable style, is one more piece of herself—one more gift—that Stephanie shares with others. - Corinne Williams Anderson, Ed.D. Senior Technical Adviser, Liberian Teacher Training Program; former Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs, Tougaloo College President, American Association of University Women, Jackson Branch President, Central MS Chapter of Nat’l Coalition of 100 Black Women Past President, National Federation of Democratic Women Third Edition

'A very good guide to the state we're in' Paul Krugman, New York Review of Books 'A well-written, thought-provoking book by one of America's leading economic thinkers and progressive champions.' Huffington Post Do you recall a time when the income of a single schoolteacher or baker or salesman or mechanic was enough to buy a home, have two cars, and raise a family? Robert Reich does – in the 1950s his father sold clothes to factory workers and the family earnt enough to live comfortably. Today, this middle class is rapidly shrinking: American income inequality and wealth disparity is the greatest it's been in eighty years. As Reich, who served in three US administrations, shows, the threat to capitalism is no longer communism or fascism but a steady undermining of the trust modern societies need for growth and stability. With an exclusive chapter for Icon's edition, Saving Capitalism is passionate yet practical, sweeping yet exactingly argued, a revelatory indictment of the economic status quo and an empowering call to action.

Social scientists are concerned with élites of many kinds - bureaucracies, military oligarchies, political leaders and the like. The study of élites is frequently characterised by a certain suspicion, and the tone of the enquirer’s description and discussion of such groups is often sceptical if not actually hostile. While not simply an attempt to redress the balance, this book is intended to provide the reader with a fair idea of the nature and variety of élites and to offer some explanantions as to why societies over a remarkably wide range of time, space and economic development have evolved a structure in which a small group exercises a disproportionate power over the great mass of their fellows. The first section deals with theoretical approaches to élites and élitism, summarising and criticising work from Plato and Weber, Popper, Scruton and Bottomore. The second section consists of a number of historical and contemporary case studies, ranging from Classical Athens to late twentieth-century Western society, which individually and in combination illustrate and amplify the theoretical material. The final section draws together the main arguments in the form of a critique and conclusions.