Chapter 1

DEMOCRACY AND AMERICAN POLITICS

The Struggle for African-American Voting Rights

The right to vote in meaningful elections is fundamental to democracy.

Long struggles for the right to vote Despite the Civil Rights Acts, a

significant increase in voter registration among African-Americans did not occur until after the 1965 Voting Rights Act was passed.

The Struggle for Democracy We live in an age of democratic

aspiration and upsurge. People around the globe are demanding

the right to govern themselves. American political ideas and institutions

often have provided inspiration for democratic movements elsewhere.

The struggle for democracy still continues in our own society.

Democracy

The central idea of democracy is that ordinary people want to rule themselves and are capable of doing so.

The central meaning of democracy is rule by the people, self-government by the many.

Democracy involves faith in the capacity of ordinary people to govern themselves wisely.

Democracy has become so popular that people both in the United States and around the world have struggled to attain it.

Americans’ Preference for Democracy The authors of The Struggle for Democracy

suggest that Americans prefer democracy over other forms of government.

Democracy has made great advances over the course of American history, but democracy remains incomplete in the United States.

Democracy is used in so many different contexts that clarification is needed before democracy can be used as a standard of evaluation.

Direct Versus Representative Democracy Direct participatory democracy

— to the ancient Greeks, democracy meant rule by the people exercised directly in open assemblies.

Representative democracy — rule by the people, exercised indirectly through representatives selected by the people.

Fundamental Principles of Representative Democracy Popular sovereignty Political equality Political liberty

Possible Objections to Majoritarian Representative Democracy Democracy leads to bad decisions. Majority tyranny threatens liberty. The people are irrational and

incompetent. Majoritarian democracy threatens

minorities.

Democracy As an Evaluative Standard: How Democratic Are We? Chapter 1 of the text shows how and

why the democratic ideal can be used as a measuring rod to evaluate American politics.

Each of the fundamental principles of democracy suggests a set of questions that can be used to think critically about American political life.

Understanding How American Politics Works The main factors of political life are

interconnected (illustrated in the text by the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act).

The main factors of political life can be organized into three categories.– Structural sector — includes

fundamental and enduring factors that influence government and politics

– Political linkage sector — includes political actors, institutions, and processes that are involved in transmitting the wants and demands of individuals and groups to government officials

– Governmental sector — includes all public officials and institutions that have formal, legal responsibilities for making public policy

American politics should be understood holistically.– American political life must be understood

as an integrated, ordered whole.– What goes on in government can only be

understood by considering all three sectors of analysis.

– Feedback also occurs — influences sometimes flow from the governmental level to the others.