Designing Democratic Government: Making Institutions Work

Preface

PREFACE  THIS PROJECT BEGAN when Margaret Levi was selected as President of the American Political Science Association (APSA) and James Johnson, Jack Knight, and Susan Stokes agreed to serve as the Annual Program Co-Chairs for 2004–2005. We decided to create a series of panels and workshops around the conference theme of “Mobilizing Democracy.” The Russell Sage Foundation added its support, and we were therefore able to meet on several occasions to plan, present, and reconsider the appropriate subjects and chapters. This book is the product of those fruitful gatherings and conversations. Several students helped us coordinate our authors and ourselves. George Robertson, Audrey Sacks, and Rebecca Szper deserve our everlasting gratitude for their excellent work and extraordinary patience. We are also grateful to those who participated in the workshop we held in New York at the Russell Sage Foundation to vet the manuscript. We benefited enormously from the contributions and criticisms offered by Kristi Anderson, Lisa Handley , Mark Jones, Victoria Murillo, Pippa Norris, Howard Rosenthal, Olga Shvetsova , Regina Smyth, and Matthew Streb. As always, the Russell Sage Foundation has been extremely generous in both its financial support and the assistance of its professional staff. Akasemi Newsome organized our workshop, and Matthew Callan took charge of production of the book. Our greatest debt, as always, goes to Eric Wanner, President of RSF, who provided feedback throughout, and to Suzanne Nichols, RSF Editor par excellence, who always ensures that we authors meet the highest possible standards of scholarship and readability. ...