Stealth Democracy: Americans' Beliefs About How Government Should Work

Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion and Political Psychology

by John R. Hibbing, Elizabeth Theiss-Morse

Americans often complain about the operation of their government, but scholars have never developed a complete picture of people's preferred type of government. In this provocative and timely book, Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, employing an original national survey and focus groups, report the governmental procedures Americans desire. Contrary to the prevailing view that people want greater involvement in politics, most citizens do not care about most policies and therefore are content to turn over decision-making authority to someone else. People's wish for the political system is that decision makers be empathetic and, especially, non-self-interested, not that they be responsive and accountable to the people's largely nonexistent policy preferences or, even worse, that the people be obligated to participate directly in decision making. Hibbing and Theiss-Morse conclude by cautioning communitarians, direct democrats, social capitalists, deliberation theorists, and all those who think that greater citizen involvement is the solution to society's problems.

Genres: Politics, Political Science, Nonfiction, American, United States, Academic

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 28, 1998

Reviews

[Letotheon · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting interpretation of rather old data. If compared to modern data, the interpretation did not hold up tho.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of the book: citizens do not like how Congress works. The data come mainly from focus groups and a original survey. The idea is quite provocative. However, I remain skeptical. I do not completely agree with their main measure. Also, I could do without the 2nd half of the book and its normative prescriptions.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow.
Americans are quite wrong about:
- what other Americans think and
- how goverment works.
But political elites and the punditry are just as wrong about
- what Americans want and
- how governance could be improved.
This is a very, very interesting book.

[Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breathtaking.