In looking at the remarkable proliferation of democracies since 1974, this volume offers important insight into the challenges and opportunities that democracy faces in the twenty-first century. Distinguished contributors detail difficulties that democracies face from within and how they deal with them. Among the contemporary threats to democracy emanating from internal sources are tensions arising over technology and its uses; ethnic, religious, and racial distinctions; and disparate access to resources, education, and employment. A democratically elected government can behave more or less democratically, even when controlling access to information, using legal authority to aid or intimidate, and applying resources to shape the conditions for the next election. With elections recently disputed in the United States, Mexico, Lebanon, and the Ukraine, debates about the future of democracy are inescapably debates about what kind of democracy is desired.

Contributors are W. Lance Bennett, Bruce Bimber, Jon Fraenkel, Brian J. Gaines, Bernard Grofman, Wayne V. McIntosh, Peter F. Nardulli, Mark Q. Sawyer, Stephen Simon, Paul M. Sniderman, and Jack Snyder.

| 1. Democracy Challenged: Demography, Technology, and Democratic Possibilities Brian I. Gaines and Peter F. Nardulli 1 Part I: Social Heterogeneity and Democracy: Challenges and Opportunities 2. Problems of Democratic Transition in Divided Societies Jack Snyder 11 3. Citizens, Identities, and Democratic Dialogues: Opportunities and Challenges of Diverse Societies Mark Q. Sawyer 33 4. Democracy, Diversity, and Leadership Paul M. Sniderman 51 5. Electoral Engineering, Social Cleavages, and Democracy Bernard Grofman and Jon Fraenkel 71 Part II: Technology and Democracy: Mass-Elite Linkages in the Twenty-first Century 6. Technological Advances and Individual Liberties: Privacy and the Reach of the State in the Twenty-first Century Wayne V McIntosh and Stephen A. Simon 105 7. Engineering Consent: The Persistence of a Problematic Communication Regime W. Lance Bennett 131 8. The Internet and Political Fragmentation Bruce Bimber 155 Contributors 171 Index 175 | "The question of how democratic government reacts to the challenges of societal and technological changes is of tremendous importance. The distinguished contributors provide accessible overviews of a variety of important topics related to the success of democracy, including multi-ethnic threats to democracy and government tactics for spying on its citizens. Highly recommended."—James L. Gibson, author of Overcoming Apartheid
"Setting out the main challenges that face both emerging and mature democracies, this collection will be essential for political scientists, sociologists, economists, historians, and communications scholars who seek to understand the nature of democracy in the twenty-first century."—Edward G. Carmines, coauthor of Issue Evolution and Reaching Beyond Race
|Peter F. Nardulli is a professor of political science, holds an appointment in the College of Law, and is the founding director of the Cline Center for Democracy at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is the author or editor of many books, including Popular Efficacy in the Democratic Era: A Reexamination of Electoral Accountability in the United States, 1828-2000.