Promise and Performance of American Democracy - Softcover

Bond, Jon R.; Watson, Richard A.; Smith, Kevin B.

4

6 ratings by Goodreads

9780875814391: Promise and Performance of American Democracy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0875814395 ISBN 13: 9780875814391

Publisher: Cengage Learning, 2001

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This brief but inclusive narrative textbook focuses on the comparison of the theoretical promise of democracy with its actual performance. Readily accessible to undergraduates, the text is anchored in and motivated by political science scholarship. This new edition has been completely revised and updated and incorporates the results of the 2000 presidential and congressional elections. With thorough coverage of the successes and failures of the workings of democracy in today's United States, PROMISE AND PERFORMANCE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY provides students with tools they can use to understand politics, evaluate the functioning of democracy, and make educated voting decisions.

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About the Author:

Jon R. Bond, professor of political science at Texas A&M University, received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research analyzes the policy-making process and the operation of democracy in American politics. Professor Bond has published articles on presidential-congressional relations, congressional elections, and public policy in the discipline's major journals. He is coauthor of THE PRESIDENT IN THE LEGISLATIVE ARENA, and coeditor of POLARIZED POLITICS: CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT IN A PARTISAN ERA, and INSTITUTIONAL GAMES AND THE U.S. SUPREME COURT. In 1987 and 1988, Dr. Bond was An APSA Congressional Fellow, working on the staffs of Senator Lloyd Bentsen and Representative Norman Mineta. He has served as coeditor of the JOURNAL OF POLITICS, and as president of the Southern Political Science Association, the oldest regional political science association, and Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society.

Review:

"THE PROMISE AND PERFORMANCE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY incorporates the best political science scholarship in a concise and readable format that will challenge your students's preconceived notions about American politics. Regardless of whether they are cynical, patriotic or neutral, this text will provide them with the analytical tools to explore whether or not and to what extent our system functions properly."

"I believe that the Bond text is superior to most of the other American Government texts in terms of content. Its strength lies in the way that it attempts to bring current empirical research on American politics into the introductory discussion of the subject....Pedagogically I like the authors's focus on issues related to the promise and performance of American democracy."

"The three biggest strengths of the text are: it challenges students to questions the performance of the American governmental system and asks students to engage the material at a deeper level; the text uses very good examples as hooks at the beginning of each chapter that should lead to more student interest in the text; because the text uses an approach of challenging students to assess performance the text reads less like a traditional textbook that reports only the facts (which students find less appealing)."

"The books has 'a very contemporary focus, very alert to current development in political science, with no obvious political or ideological bias, and a thesis that can be used to provoke student discussion.'"

"The clarity of Bond, et. al's writing is excellent. I think the paragraphs as a whole develop consistent themes more clearly and are more 'academic' in their pitch and balance. It brings a wide wealth of knowledge together in comprehensible, but not patronizing language."

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