Contemporary Democracies

G. Bingham Powell, Jr., is Professor of Political Science, University of Rochester, and coauthor of Comparative Politics: System, Process, and Policy.

• 1. Introduction--Democracy, Parties, and Performance The Contemporary Democracies Political Parties and the Democratic Order Standards of Political Performance 2. Political Performance--The Initial Comparison Citizen Voting Participation Stable and Effective Government Maintaining Political Order Compatibility of the Performance Dimensions 3. The Social and Economic Environment Population Size Modernization and Economic Development Social Cleavages Economic Divisions A Brief Multivariate Consideration 4. The Constitutional Setting Constitutional Design Constitutional Design and Political Performance Constitution and Culture Socioeconomic and Constitutional Effects 5. Party Systems and Election Outcomes Attributes of Party Systems Fractionalization Parties and Social Groups Extremist Parties Volatility of Party Strength Party-System Dynamics Party Systems and Democratic Performance 6. Citizen Involvement I Participation or Turmoil Getting Citizens to the Polls A Causal Model of Voting Participation Turmoil and Its Containment 7. Government Performance / Executive Stability Parliamentary Systems: Government Formation Parliamentary Systems: Durability of Governments Presidential Government 8. Managing Violence and Sustaining Democracy Elite Bases of Deadly Violence Organized Violence: Strategic Objectives and Consequences How Democracies Are Replaced: Military and Executive Coups 9. Democratic Performance--Liberty, Competition, Responsiveness Civil Liberties Political Competition Policy Responsiveness 10. Conclusion--Constraint and Creativity in Democracies Relationships among the Dimensions of Performance Executive Control and Economic Manipulation Institutionalizing Compromise: Consociational Practices Requirements for Performance and Survival Comparative Analysis: Limits and Directions Appendix Notes Index

G. Bingham Powell’s new work clearly fits into the small group of important studies of the past generation that combine rigorous analysis of data from a number of societies and theoretical generalizations that have appeared in bits and pieces in studies of more limited scope. The result is impressive… We are treated to a mature piece of social science scholarship, one that represents the ‘state of the art’ in comparative political studies.