Elite Foundations of Liberal Democracy (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780742553613)

This compelling and convincing study, the capstone of decades of research, argues that political regimes are created and sustained by elites. Liberal democracies are no exception; they depend, above all, on the formation and persistence of consensually united elites. John Higley and Michael Burton explore the circumstances and ways in which such elites have formed in the modern world. They identify pressures that may cause a basic change in the structure and functioning of elites in established liberal democracies, and they ask if the elites cluster around George W. Bush are a harbinger of this change. The authors' powerful and important argument reframes our thinking about liberal democracy and questions optimistic assumptions about the prospects for its spread in the twenty-first century.

Author: John Higley, Michael Burton
ISBN-10: 0742553612
ISBN-13: 9780742553613
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Language: English
Published: 08/02/2006
Pages: 238
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.89h x 6.03w x 0.71d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2007 pg. 149