Volume 120 - Number 3 - Fall 2005

Complications of American Democracy: Elections Are Not Enough
Demetrios James Caraley discusses the major features critical to the working of our democratic institutions: free elections, separation of powers with checks and balances, and government limited by constitutional guarantees. He looks at some evidence that suggests our democracy may be shifting to an “elective despotism” of the majority—something that Jefferson declared “was not the government we fought for.”

The late Demetrios James Caraley was a specialist on city government and on congressional policies toward cities. He also published books and articles in the fields of national security policy and democratic political theory.  Caraley was the longstanding and esteemed Editor of Political Science Quarterly from 1973 to 2020 and concurrent President of the Academy from 1992 to 2018. Click here for more about Professor Caraley. 

Volume 120 - Number 2 - Summer 2005

What Political Institutions Does Large-Scale Democracy Require?
Robert A. Dahl examines the political institutions necessary for a democratic country. He argues that a large-scale democracy requires the following political institutions: elected officials; free, fair, and frequent elections; freedom of expression; alternative sources of information; associational autonomy; and inclusive citizenship.

Volume 118 - Number 2 - Summer 2003

Shoring up the Right to Vote for President: A Modest Proposal [with Panel Discussion]
ALEXANDER KEYSSAR argues that the 2000 presidential election has made clear the desirability of a constitutional amendment guaranteeing to all American citizens the right to vote for president and to have those votes determine each state’s vote in the electoral college. Tracing certain features of the history of suffrage in the United States, he maintains that such an amendment would make the Constitution consistent with the now broadly based consensus (not present at the nation’s founding) that voting is a right that inheres in all citizens.

THE PANELISTS (D. Caraley, L. Greenhouse, S. Issacharoff, R. Pildes, G. Pomper, J. Rakove, R. Shapiro, R. Smith) discuss the points raised by the Keyssar article. They end up with consensus on the need for a constitutional right to vote for president, but have some differences on additional aspects of reforming the system.

Volume 116 - Number 1 - Spring 2001

Why Americans Deserve a Constitutional Right to Vote for Presidential Electors
Demetrios James Caraley argues that the Constitution needs to be amended to give Americans the constitutional right they believed they had but the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore denied--the right to vote for and select the president.