Celebrating Democracy

Celebrating Democracy
Author: Mark W. Brewin
Publisher: Peter Lang
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2008
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780820486413

How has the mass media changed our experience of Election Day? This chronological account of Election Day in Philadelphia begins in the colonial era and traces the evolution of the democratic process through to the present day. Using a variety of sources, the book documents how Philadelphians have dramatically changed the ways in which they perform and discuss Election Day, and examines the significance of these changes, using them as a lens through which to understand differing conceptions of democratic life. Particular attention is paid to the day's status as a mass-mediated ritual, and the various forms of media - among them broadsides, newspapers, television, and the Internet - that have dominated public portrayals of the occasion.Well-researched and written, Celebrating Democracy is as much about the history of Election Day as it is about the history of American journalism and mass media.

Freedom in the World 2018

Freedom in the World 2018
Author: Freedom House
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 1265
Release: 2019-01-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1538112035

Freedom in the World, the Freedom House flagship survey whose findings have been published annually since 1972, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The survey ratings and narrative reports on 195 countries and fifteen territories are used by policymakers, the media, international corporations, civic activists, and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide. The Freedom in the World political rights and civil liberties ratings are determined through a multi-layered process of research and evaluation by a team of regional analysts and eminent scholars. The analysts used a broad range of sources of information, including foreign and domestic news reports, academic studies, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, individual professional contacts, and visits to the region, in conducting their research. The methodology of the survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.

Celebrating Constitution Day

Celebrating Constitution Day
Author: Roben Alarcon
Publisher: Shell Education
Total Pages: 81
Release: 2005-08-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1425804195

Introduce students to the Constitution, engage students in civics and the history of the government, and learn how the Constitution is a living document that shapes all American lives.

A Greater Democracy Day by Day

A Greater Democracy Day by Day
Author: Sally Mahe
Publisher: Council Oak Books
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2004
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781571781666

The word democracy has been over-used and misused to the point it has begun to lose its meaning for many of us. When people start brandishing that word, we often suspect that they have a political agenda. A Greater Democracy Day by Day rehabilitates the word by bringing together 365 thought-provoking quotes from around the world and through time, all centered on this concept that is the keystone of modern society. The book presents a theme for each month and a quote about that theme to ponder on each day of the year. Like fingers pointing to the moon, these diverse daily readings point to the singular essence of democracy -- a greater democracy than any nation on earth has been able to achieve thus far -- the fuller democracy toward which we are growing. The format is user-friendly as well as inspirational. Throughout the year, the book focuses on twelve characteristic democratic themes such as interdependence or creativity and provides related quotations from individuals both famous and lesser-known. What emerges is a powerful sense of both the fragility and the durability of democracy in its many forms, as well as the ways its promise continues to prompt ordinary people to bring the angels of their better nature to the challenges they face. Quoted are such diverse figures as Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Plato, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Socrates, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, St. Francis of Assisi, Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, Whoopi Goldberg, and all sort of less well-known individuals who have given thought and voice to the meaning of democracy (and in many cases acted on their ideals). This inspirational book cuts through the rhetoric to integrate practicalspiritual themes. It re-infuses democracy with meaning and inspires readers to new vision and positive action.

American Democracy

American Democracy
Author: National Museum of American History
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2017-05-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1588345319

American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith is the companion volume to an exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History that celebrates the bold and radical experiment to test a wholly new form of government. Democracy is still a work in progress, but it is at the core of our nation's political, economic, and social life. This lavishly illustrated book explores democracy from the Revolution to the present using objects from the museum's collection, such as the portable writing box that Thomas Jefferson used while composing the Declaration of Independence, the inkstand with which Abraham Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation, Susan B. Anthony's iconic red shawl, and many more. Not only famous voices are presented: like democracy itself, the book and the exhibition preserve the voice of the people by showcasing campaign materials, protest signs, and a host of other items from everyday life that reflect the promises and challenges of American democracy throughout the nation's history.

Democracy Incorporated

Democracy Incorporated
Author: Sheldon S. Wolin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 394
Release: 2017-08-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0691178488

Democracy is struggling in America--by now this statement is almost cliché. But what if the country is no longer a democracy at all? In Democracy Incorporated, Sheldon Wolin considers the unthinkable: has America unwittingly morphed into a new and strange kind of political hybrid, one where economic and state powers are conjoined and virtually unbridled? Can the nation check its descent into what the author terms "inverted totalitarianism"? Wolin portrays a country where citizens are politically uninterested and submissive--and where elites are eager to keep them that way. At best the nation has become a "managed democracy" where the public is shepherded, not sovereign. At worst it is a place where corporate power no longer answers to state controls. Wolin makes clear that today's America is in no way morally or politically comparable to totalitarian states like Nazi Germany, yet he warns that unchecked economic power risks verging on total power and has its own unnerving pathologies. Wolin examines the myths and mythmaking that justify today's politics, the quest for an ever-expanding economy, and the perverse attractions of an endless war on terror. He argues passionately that democracy's best hope lies in citizens themselves learning anew to exercise power at the local level. Democracy Incorporated is one of the most worrying diagnoses of America's political ills to emerge in decades. It is sure to be a lightning rod for political debate for years to come. Now with a new introduction by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Chris Hedges, Democracy Incorporated remains an essential work for understanding the state of democracy in America.