The Social Construction of Democracy - Softcover

"Armed with a keen conscience and a fearless wit, Cary Nelson exposes the moral bankruptcy that underpins the current crisis of academic labor. From underpaid cafeteria workers and underemployed Ph.D.'s to overindulged professors and CEO- wannabe university presidents, Nelson's groves of academe are littered with inequality and injustice. Whether on the topic of the future of literary studies or the unionization of graduate students, "Manifesto of a Tenured Radical" presents a devastating case for the correction of the profession."-Andrew Ross, author of "Real Love" and "The Chicago Gangster Theory of Life"

The recent revival of democracy across much of the globe, and the fragility of many of the new regimes, has inspired renewed interest in the origins of dictatorship and democracy in modern times. Assembling renowned specialists on Eastern and Western Europe, the U.S., Latin America and Japan, The Social Construction of Democracy explores the reasons for the success and failure of democracies over the past 100 years. With its sharp portraits of nations on four continents, George Reid Andrews and Herrick Chapman shed light on the historical process by which state institutions and social movements interact to create political systems based on the principle of popular sovereignty.