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Comparative Perspectives on Inequality and the Quality of Democracy in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2011

Alfred Stepan  and
Juan J. Linz
Alfred Stepan
Affiliation:
Columbia University
Juan J. Linz
Affiliation:
Yale University
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Extract

When Jeffrey Isaac approached us to review some recent works in American politics from a comparative perspective, we gladly accepted the task, believing it important to help overcome what some see as the “splendid isolation” of American politics. Indeed, the invitation arrived at a propitious time because, after completing our most recent book, we critically reflected on the fact that we had unfortunately written almost nothing on the oldest, and one of the most diverse, democracies in the world, the United States. We thus agreed to contribute some thoughts on the matter, recognizing the limits of our knowledge of the entire field of American politics, but acknowledging, too, our belief that the current distancing of the study of America from the analysis of other democracies impoverishes modern political science.

Type
Review Essay
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 841 - 856
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2011

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