The Democratic Faith: Essays on Democratic Citizenship

With today's concerns about the "limitations" of citizens when it comes to political discourse, Sniderman (Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. Professor in Public Policy, Stanford Univ.; coauthor, Paradoxes of Liberal Democracy) compiles a collection of four essays that address the question: "Can the citizens of a democracy be trusted to run it properly?" The author takes the position that while many researchers in public opinion focus on the issues surrounding the ability of the average person to understand and meaningfully engage with modern democratic citizenship, it is just as important to understand the effect of the polarization of belief systems in the electorate; how the politics of race has been distorted by the focus on racism; and how concentrating on the dangers of mass politics should not allow a lack of focus on the dangers of elite politics. Sniderman succeeds in asking questions that need to be addressed students and researchers who believe that "ordinary citizens fall short of the coherence of thought that a democratic politics requires." This book will be of most interest to upper undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers of political theory.