The Elite Foundations of Liberal Democracy

This compelling and convincing study, the capstone of decades of research, argues that political regimes are created and sustained by elites. Liberal democracies are no exception; they depend, above all, on the formation and persistence of consensually united elites. John Higley and Michael Burton explore the circumstances and ways in which such elites have formed in the modern world. They identify pressures that may cause a basic change in the structure and functioning of elites in established liberal democracies, and they ask if the elites cluster around George W. Bush are a harbinger of this change. The authors' powerful and important argument reframes our thinking about liberal democracy and questions optimistic assumptions about the prospects for its spread in the twenty-first century.

List of contents

Chapter 1: Elites and Regimes
Chapter 2: Disunited Elites and Unstable Regimes
Chapter 3: Elite Settlements
Chapter 4: Colonial Origins of Consensually United Elites
Chapter 5: Convergences among Disunited Elites
Chapter 6: Elites and Liberal Democratic Prospects

About the author

By John Higley and Michael Burton

Summary

Argues that political regimes are created and sustained by elites. This book aims to reframe our thinking about liberal democracy and questions optimistic assumptions about the prospects for its spread in the twenty-first century.

Product details

• Authors: Michael Burton, Michael Higley Burton, John Higley
• Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 02.08.2006
• EAN: 9780742553613
• ISBN: 978-0-7425-5361-3
• No. of pages: 238
• Dimensions: 153 mm x 228 mm x 17 mm
• Series: Elite Transformations; Elite Transformations (Paperba; Elite Transformations
• Subjects: Non-fiction book; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, Political science & theory, Political science and theory, Liberalism & centre democratic ideologies, Centrist democratic ideologies