Book Review, Democracy Despite Itself: Why a System that Shouldn't Work at All Works so Well By Danny Oppenheimer and Mike Edwards

Wis. Law., Sept. 2012, @ 40.

3 Pages Posted: 7 Jun 2012 Last revised: 19 Sep 2012

See all articles by Catherine A. Lemmer

Catherine A. Lemmer

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law

Date Written: June 6, 2012

Abstract

It’s an election year, and once again many of us long for a swift end to the negative campaign ads, reports of voter fraud and gerrymandering, and sound-bite yapping of political pundits that passes for news. In the midst of that longing, we often wonder if this system of government truly represents the wishes of the people. In Democracy Despite Itself: Why a System That Shouldn’t Work at All Works So Well, Mike Edwards, political scientist and founder of Leftfielder.org, and Danny Oppenheimer, Princeton University psychologist, attempt to make sense of our system by stating and investigating this basic paradox: “If voters are irrational and uninformed, and the election process flawed, why is democracy successful?”

Keywords: book review

Suggested Citation

Lemmer, Catherine A., Book Review, Democracy Despite Itself: Why a System that Shouldn't Work at All Works so Well By Danny Oppenheimer and Mike Edwards (June 6, 2012). Wis. Law., Sept. 2012, @ 40., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2079144

Catherine A. Lemmer (Contact Author)

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law ( email )

530 West New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
80
Abstract Views
636
Rank
555,299
PlumX Metrics