1. The puzzle of democratic disenfranchisement; Part I. The United States: 2. Revolutionary democracy; 3. The 'monstrous spectacle' of Jeffersonian democracy; 4 The white man's republic; Part II. The United Kingdom and France: 5. The fall of the Protestant constitution; 6. The republic through the side door; Conclusion.
Disenfranchising Democracy examines the exclusions that accompany democratization and provides a theory of the expansion and restriction of voting rights.
David A. Bateman is Assistant Professor of Government at Cornell University, New York. He is co-author of Southern Nation: Congress and White Supremacy after Reconstruction (forthcoming).
'This exceptionally smart, thoughtful, theoretically and
empirically rigorous book breaks new ground on the politics of
voting rights and disenfranchisement. Disenfranchising Democracy is
critically important to understanding the politics of voting rights
and civil rights, both historically and for today.' Paul Frymer,
Princeton University, New Jersey
'This is an important study, theoretically innovative and
empirically rigorous. Through careful attention to the history of
disenfranchisement, Bateman helps us to conceptualize democracy not
simply as a set of neutral mechanisms for selecting leadership, but
as a deeply political process of 'people-making'. Disenfranchising
Democracy helps us to understand, in precise and nuanced ways, the
role of exclusions in building democratic consensus and
demonstrates that the prevalent tendency to view such events as
'setbacks' obscures critical dynamics in the process of
democratization itself.' Amel Ahmed, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst
'Like the best work in American political development, Bateman
finds a wellspring of insight into contemporary American politics
buried in our past. Writing at time when voting rights are under
siege, he reminds us that the electorate has been politically
constructed all along, that the pattern of expansion has not been
linear, and that democracy is always vulnerable to fears of
diversity and its implications for some imagined community.'
Stephen Skowronek, Yale University, Connecticut
'Deeply researched and beautifully written, this landmark work of
scholarship presents an extremely original account of the mass
franchise during the nineteenth century. For scholars of American
politics, a special bonus is the demonstration that black suffrage
mattered far more in antebellum party dynamics than we have
previously known.' Rick Valelly, Swarthmore College,
Pennsylvania
'This is a rich and important book. Bateman explains complex
moments of simultaneous enrichments and disenfranchisements,
placing the US in a broader nineteenth century, comparative
perspective. The book makes many contributions and unearths a
treasure trove of political claims-making by a variety of actors -
American, British, and French.' Robert Mickey, University of
Michigan
'Disenfranchising Democracy is an important contribution to the
literature on democracy, in particular 19th-century America and the
description of a dialectic between democratization.' S.
Majstorovic, Choice
'David A. Bateman's new book explores nearly all of the crucial
questions concerning democracy and inclusion that we are grappling
with today … This is an excellent book that should be read and
taught by scholars of political development.' Dawn Langan Teele,
Political Science Quarterly
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