The Threshold Of Democracy

The Threshold of Democracy re-creates the intellectual dynamics of one of the most formative periods in Western history. In the wake of Athenian military defeat and rebellion, advocates of democracy have reopened the Assembly, but stability remains elusive. As members of the Assembly, players must contend with divisive issues like citizenship, elections, remilitarization, and dissent. Foremost among the troublemakers: Socrates.

Innovative and engaging, The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C. explores the intellectual dynamics of democracy by recreating the historical context that shaped its evolution. Part of the "Reacting to the Past" series, this text consists of elaborate games in which students are assigned roles, informed by classic texts, set in particular moments of intellectual and social ferment. Issues of the time are sorted out by a polity fractured into radical and moderate democrats, oligarchs, and Socratics, among others.

Part of the Reacting to the Past series, The Threshold of Democracy re-creates the intellectual dynamics of one of the most formative periods in the human experience.

Argues that immigration politics is a central - but overlooked - object of inquiry in the democratic thought of classical Athens. Thinkers criticized democracy's strategic investments in nativism, the shifting boundaries of citizenship, and the precarious membership that a blood-based order effects for those eligible and ineligible to claim it.

Vanhanen provides the most extensive comparative survey of the state and conditions of democracy ever made, with historical data and explanatory variables extending back to the 1850s, and with forecasts covering seven regions of the world.

It’s compulsory to vote in Australia. We are one of a handful of countries in the world that enforce this rule at election time, and the only English-speaking country that makes its citizens vote. Not only that, we embrace it. We celebrate compulsory voting with barbeques and cake stalls at polling stations, and election parties that spill over into Sunday morning. But how did this come to be: when and why was voting in Australia made compulsory? How has this affected our politics? And how else is the way we vote different from other democracies? Lively and inspiring, From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage is a landmark account of the character of Australian democracy by the celebrated historian Judith Brett, the prize-winning biographer of Alfred Deakin.

Canada is often held up as an example of a healthy democracy. However, the Canadian public is less enthusiastic about the way our democracy works. This first-of-a-kind book approaches the “democratic deficit” from the perspective of everyday Canadians and assesses the performance of Parliament and the media in light of their perceptions and expectations. In doing so, a number of chapters highlight the disjuncture between perceptions and performance. Canadian Democracy from the Ground Up is essential for anyone who would like to learn how to build a better democracy – one that meets the expectations of the Canadian public.

Analyzing the electoral systems of various countries, including those of developing nations, this work examines the relationship between democratic theory values and the electoral institutions used to achieve them. Empirical data is used to find the institutions most appropriate to each model.