SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS 150:
Computers and Social Decisions (3 units)
Spring Quarter 2003-2004, Stanford University
Instructor: Todd Davies
Background on Political Consciousness and Media, continued
(4/14/2004)
Some systemic causes of democratic failure
-
Criteria other than popular support often predominate in legislatures:
pork-barrel deals, influence-buying, preservationist bias (e.g. defense
spending after the Cold War)
-
Representation, concentration of power distort incentives - more true
the
greater the concentration of power
-
Distance of government from localities
-
Size of the polity
-
Economic inequality can perpetuate itself through disproportionate
influence
on outcomes
Some approaches to these problems
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Past approaches (term limits, motor voter legislation, vote-by-mail)
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Campaign finance reform (soft money ban; but see Buckley vs Valeo -
1976)
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Electoral reform
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None of the above (NOTA) - failed in CA in March 2000
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open primaries
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alternative voting systems (instant runoff, proportional representation)
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Lottery government (Phillips and Callenbach)
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Participatory democracy
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Deliberative democracy
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Fishkin, Luskin, and Jowell - deliberation changes people's minds,
sometimes
dramatically and lastingly, if they are exposed to opinions of a random
sample of citizens