American Democracy in Peril: Seven Challenges to America's Future

by William E. Hudson

This work presents an appraisal of the current state of the American political system from a social democratic perspective. Recent democratization movements throughout the world have thrilled Americans, but they are also a reminder that there are many areas in which the US could and should work to improve and increase democracy at home.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566430607
• ISBN13: 9781566430609
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Chatham House Publishers
• Length: 338 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Critical Examination of the Fundamentals of US Government

William E. Hudson has written an eloquent, insightful, and well-thought critique of the United States system of representative democracy. Hudson confronts the challenges to American democracy raised by campaign finance, the media, radical individualism, and the national security state. Hudson does not shy away from full fledged confrontation with the complacent stereotypes of American politics; instead, he utilizes his sharp wit and insight to cut through the layers of tacit consent which usually shield and protect our system of government to write a book about government as it really is. In an era when understandings about government are shrouded in assumptions and soporifisms, Hudson peels back the layers to expose the American political system and the central problems it carries with it.