A behavioral theory of elections

Most theories of elections assume that voters and political actors are fully rational. While these formulations produce many insights, they also generate anomalies--most famously, about turnout. The rise of behavioral economics has posed new challenges to the premise of rationality. This groundbr...

Breaking the impasse

A timely and persuasive discussion of the circumstances, challenges, and possibilities facing the new socialist movement in the US.

Democracy on demand

Democracy on demand is a most comprehensive analysis of the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of referendums and the challenges to modern democracy. It shows how democracy is vulnerable, and how it can be saved from demagogues.

Election day

An original defense of the unique value of voting in a democracyVoting is only one of the many ways that citizens can participate in public decision making, so why does it occupy such a central place in the democratic imagination? In Election Day, political theorist Emilee Booth Chapman provides ...

How to win an election

A primer on campaigning in ancient Rome that reads like a strategy memo from a modern political consultantHow to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines. In 64 BC when idealist Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest orator, ran for consul (t...

Inside the mind of a voter

An in-depth look into the psychology of voters around the world, how voters shape elections, and how elections transform citizens and affect their livesCould understanding whether elections make people happy and bring them closure matter more than who they vote for? What if people did not vote fo...

Making democracy count

How we can repair our democracy by rebuilding the mechanisms that power itWhat’s the best way to determine what most voters want when multiple candidates are running? What’s the fairest way to allocate legislative seats to different constituencies? What’s the least distorted way to draw voting di...

Nasty women and bad hombres

A look at how Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and American voters invoked ideas of gender and race in the fiercely contested 2016 US presidential electionGender and racial politics were at the center of the 2016 US presidential contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The election was his...

Picture perfect

We say the camera doesn't lie, but we also know that pictures distort and deceive. In Picture Perfect, Kiku Adatto brilliantly examines the use and abuse of images today. Ranging from family albums to Facebook, political campaigns to popular movies, images of war to pictures of protest. Adatto re...

Political entrepreneurs

How challenger parties, acting as political entrepreneurs, are changing European democraciesChallenger parties are on the rise in Europe, exemplified by the likes of Podemos in Spain, the National Rally in France, the Alternative for Germany, or the Brexit Party in Great Britain. Like disruptive ...

Presidential selection

Protecting the ballot

How reforms limiting electoral misconduct completed the process of democratizationBetween 1850 and 1918, many first-wave democracies in Europe adopted electoral reforms that reduced the incidence of electoral malfeasance. Drawing on analysis of parliamentary deliberations and roll-call votes in F...

Red state, blue state, rich state, poor state

On the night of the 2000 presidential election, Americans watched on television as polling results divided the nation's map into red and blue states. Since then the color divide has become symbolic of a culture war that thrives on stereotypes—pickup-driving red-state Republicans who vote based on...

Shock to the system

How violent events and autocratic parties trigger democratic changeHow do democracies emerge? Shock to the System presents a novel theory of democratization that focuses on how events like coups, wars, and elections disrupt autocratic regimes and trigger democratic change. Employing the broadest ...

The bitter end

What an intensely divisive election means for American politicsThe year 2020 was a tumultuous time in American politics. It brought a global pandemic, protests for racial justice, and a razor-thin presidential election outcome. It culminated in an attack on the U.S. Capitol that attempted to deny...

The cash ceiling

Why working-class Americans almost never become politicians, what that means for democracy, and what reformers can do about itWhy are Americans governed by the rich? Millionaires make up only three percent of the public but control all three branches of the federal government. How did this happen...

The gamble

A unique "moneyball" look at the 2012 U.S. presidential contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney"Game changer." We heard it so many times during the 2012 U.S. presidential election. But what actually made a difference in the contest—and what was just hype? In this groundbreaking book, John Si...

The impression of influence

Constituents often fail to hold their representatives accountable for federal spending decisions—even though those very choices have a pervasive influence on American life. Why does this happen? Breaking new ground in the study of representation, The Impression of Influence demonstrates how legis...

The loud minority

How political protests and activism influence voters and candidatesThe “silent majority”—a phrase coined by Richard Nixon in 1969 in response to Vietnam War protests and later used by Donald Trump as a campaign slogan—refers to the supposed wedge that exists between protestors in the street and t...

The message matters

The economy is so powerful in determining the results of U.S. presidential elections that political scientists can predict winners and losers with amazing accuracy long before the campaigns start. But if it is true that "it's the economy, Stupid," why do incumbents in good economies sometimes los...

The myth of the rational voter

The greatest obstacle to sound economic policy is not entrenched special interests or rampant lobbying, but the popular misconceptions, irrational beliefs, and personal biases held by ordinary voters. This is economist Bryan Caplan's sobering assessment in this provocative and eye-opening book. C...

The precipice

A collection of interviews with the world’s leading public intellectual from the time of the rise of Donald Trump to power to the end of his presidency.

The presidency of barack obama

An original and engaging account of the Obama years from a group of leading political historiansBarack Obama's election as the first African American president seemed to usher in a new era, and he took office in 2009 with great expectations. But by his second term, Republicans controlled Congress...

The trump revolt

The second entry in the Pocket Politics series provides an accessible account of the ideas and shifts that propelled Donald Trump to victory in the 2016 US presidential election and looks at the likely consequences of the result.

The unheavenly chorus

Why American democracy favors the affluent and educatedPolitically active individuals and organizations make huge investments of time, energy, and money to influence everything from election outcomes to congressional subcommittee hearings to local school politics, while other groups and individua...

Unfree speech

At a time when campaign finance reform is widely viewed as synonymous with cleaning up Washington and promoting political equality, Bradley Smith, a nationally recognized expert on campaign finance reform, argues that all restriction on campaign giving should be eliminated. In Unfree Speech, he p...

Violent victors

Why populations brutalized in war elect their tormentorsOne of the great puzzles of electoral politics is how parties that commit mass atrocities in war often win the support of victimized populations to establish the postwar political order. Violent Victors traces how parties derived from violen...

Who votes now?

Who Votes Now? compares the demographic characteristics and political views of voters and nonvoters in American presidential elections since 1972 and examines how electoral reforms and the choices offered by candidates influence voter turnout. Drawing on a wealth of data from the U.S. Census Bure...

Why we vote

Why do more people vote--or get involved in other civic and political activities--in some communities than in others? Why We Vote demonstrates that our communities shape our civic and political engagement, and that schools are especially significant communities for fostering strong civic norms. M...