Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels: “Democracy for Realists Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government.”
The reading for this assignment is Christopher Achen and Larry Bartel: “Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government.” From Kollman, 5th edition Reading 13.4 or 4th edition, 13.5. There is also a set of notes on this reading included in this module.
Achen and Bartels obviously have a rather negative view of the American voter. Voters are uninformed, don’t think through their decisions, react to emotional and irrelevant stimuli when casting their vote. Then they are upset when they get poor leaders, leaders that do not promote the voters’ preferred policies, and, ultimately, this undermines the legitimacy of democracy itself as people lose faith in the democratic process.
I’m asking you in your essay to react to this argument: Do you think Achen and Bartels make a sound argument or are they selling the electorate short? alternatively, is the electorate responding to what they are offered? You can also grapple with another issue: are we expecting way too much of the electorate? A thoughtful analysis based on your experience, the recent election for president, as well as the readings can be the basis for this.
