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For the Many or the Few

The Initiative, Public Policy, and American Democracy

John G Matsusaka author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:5th Oct '04

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

For the Many or the Few cover

Direct democracy continues to grow in importance throughout the United States. Citizens are increasingly using initiatives and referendums to take the law into their own hands, overriding their elected officials to set tax, expenditure, and social policies. John G. Matsusaka's "For the Many or the Few" studies a century of budget data from states and cities to provide the first comprehensive, empirical picture of how direct democracy is changing government policies.Matsusaka argues against the popular belief that initiatives empower wealthy special interest groups that neglect the majority view. Examining demographic, political, and opinion data, he demonstrates how initiatives led to significant tax and expenditure cuts over the last thirty years and that these cuts were supported by a majority of citizens. He concludes that, by and large, direct democracy in the United States has worked for the benefit of the many rather than the few.

"For the Many or the Few is a valuable contribution to our understanding of American democratic institutions and public policy and an important book." - Journal of Politics "John G. Matsusaka's valuable, accessible book represents one of the few studies that attempt to test how policy outcomes are affected by the initiative process and to examine whether policies produced by the initiative reflect what the public actually wants." - Political Science Quarterly"

ISBN: 9780226510811

Dimensions: 24mm x 17mm x 2mm

Weight: 425g

206 pages