The drama of democracy

Аннотация

The success of the first edition of The Drama of Democracy has encouraged me to bring out a new edition. Like the first, this edition is based on the premise that interest in politics does not come naturally to people. It may seem to come naturally to those of us who teach it, because we like politics. We talk about it, write about it, and sometimes get involved in it. It is great fun—for us. But abundant empirical evidence supports Robert Dahl’s observation that most Americans regard politics as a remote, alien, and unrewarding activity."1 The writer of an introductory American government textbook cannot assume, then, that there is an audience out there that can hardly wait to read about politics. It is better to assume that the students reading a text on American government and politics, who may have taken the introductory course to fulfill some core requirement, are rather wary of the whole business.