Unequal Democracies
Public Policy, Responsiveness, and Redistribution in an Era of Rising Economic Inequality
$120.00 (F)
Part of SSRC Anxieties of Democracy
- Editors:
- Noam Lupu, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
- Jonas Pontusson, Université de Genève
- Date Published: December 2023
- availability: Available
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9781009428644
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While economic inequality has risen in every affluent democracy in North America and Western Europe, the last three decades have also been characterized by falling or stagnating levels of state-led economic redistribution. Why have democratically accountable governments not done more to distribute top-income shares to citizens with low- and middle-income? Unequal Democracies offers answers to this question, bringing together contributions that focus on voters and their demands for redistribution with contributions on elites and unequal representation that is biased against less-affluent citizens. While large and growing bodies of research have developed around each of these perspectives, this volume brings them into rare dialogue. Chapters also incorporate analyses that center exclusively on the United States and those that examine a broader set of advanced democracies to explore the uniqueness of the American case and its contribution to comparative perspectives. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Read more- Features theoretical debates about the implications of economic inequality for political representation in contemporary liberal democracies
- Includes both single-country qualitative and quantitative analyses as well as cross-national comparative analyses
- Available as Open Access on Cambridge Core
Reviews & endorsements
‘Why have advanced democracies so broadly failed to address the growth of economic inequality? This rich volume brings together a wide range of leading scholars to explore the roles of citizens, elites, government policymakers, and the mass media. This is a vital contribution at a time when many citizens are disillusioned with their governments and, perhaps, with democracy itself.' Martin Gilens, University of California, Los Angeles
See more reviews‘Based on cutting-edge research by the leading experts in the field, this book tackles the important political puzzle: why did the redistributive efforts of many governments decline over recent decades even as income inequality increased? Its wide-ranging and illuminating essays will be of interest to everyone concerned about issues of inequality.' Peter A. Hall, Harvard University
‘Why don't democratic governments respond to what their citizens want? Unequal Democracies fills a massive lacuna in the literature with nuanced answers and sophisticated analyses of cross-national evidence. By distinguishing opinions, preferences, and interests and then considering how they are formed and represented by institutions, the authors transform our understanding of how to promote more equitable policies and polities.' Margaret Levi, Stanford University
‘This volume offers a set of crucial contributions to our understanding of the political consequences of rising inequality. The editors have put together a truly impressive group of scholars who provide state-of-the-art analysis of the political puzzles linking unequal economies to unequal democracies. A must-read for students of comparative politics.' David Rueda, University of Oxford
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×Product details
- Date Published: December 2023
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9781009428644
- length: 350 pages
- dimensions: 235 x 155 x 24 mm
- weight: 0.733kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
1. The political puzzle of rising inequality Noam Lupu and Jonas Pontusson
Part I. Government Responsiveness:
2. Unequal responsiveness and government partisanship in Northwest Europe Ruben Berge Mathisen, Wouter Schakel, Svenja Hense, Lea Elsässer, Mikael Persson and Jonas Pontusson
3. Democracy, class interests, and redistribution: what do the data say? Mads Andreas Elkjær and Torben Iversen
4. Measuring political inequality Larry M. Bartels
5. Why so little sectionalism in the contemporary United States? The under-representation of place-based economic interests Jacob S. Hacker, Paul Pierson and Sam Zacher
Part II. Political Inequality and Representation:
6. On the mechanisms behind unequal representation in legislatures Michael Becher and Daniel Stegmueller
7. How do the educated govern? Evidence from Spanish mayors Marta Curto-Grau and Aina Gallego
8. Working-class officeholding in the OECD Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu
9. Political participation and unequal representation: Addressing the endogeneity problem Ruben Berge Mathisen and Yvette Peters
Part III. Voters and Demand for Redistribution:
10. Fairness reasoning and demand for redistribution Charlotte Cavaillé
11. The news media and the politics of inequality in advanced democracies J Scott Matthews, Timothy Hicks and Alan M. Jacobs
12. Deflecting from racism: local talk radio conversations about the murder of George Floyd Katherine J. Cramer
13. Class and social policy representation Macarena Ares and Silja Häusermann
Bibliography
Index.-
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Unequal Democracies
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