Politics of Democratic Inclusion

"This sterling collection perceptively achieves its two central goals. It crisply summarizes what we know and need to learn about key facets of political participation. Its excellent essays also thoughtfully discuss the implications of the uneven inclusion they document in American political life."-Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History at Columbia University and author of When Affirmative Action Was White "The Politics of Democratic Inclusion seeks to highlight the myriad ways that political institutions foster or inhibit the inclusion of historically under-represented groups into contemporary American politics. Leading scholars not only spell-out the dilemmas that confront racial, ethnic and immigrant groups and women in the United States as they seek to influence politics, but also the roles that such institutions as political parties, local governments, the federal courts, the Congress and the presidency play in mediating, constraining and facilitating their access to power. Taken together, these essays should push students of democratic inclusion to look beyond the study of attitudes, beliefs and mass politics and closely examine how it is that institutions also matter in explaining the success and failure of disadvantaged groups as they seek a redress of their political and policy grievances. The result is a first-class and even path-breaking work of collaborative scholarship."-Lawrence C. Dodd, Manning J. Dauer Eminent Scholar in Political Science, the University of Florida