Overview

We are taught in civics class that the Constitution provides for three basic branches of government: executive, judicial, and legislative. While the President and Congress as elected by popular vote are representative, can they really reflect accurately the will and sentiment of the populace? Or do money and power dominate everyday politics to the detriment of true self-governance? Is there a way to put We the people back into government? Ethan Leib thinks there is and offers this blueprint for a fourth branch of government as a way of giving the people a voice of their own. While drawing on the rich theoretical literature about deliberative democracy, Leib concentrates on designing an institutional scheme for embedding deliberation in the practice of American democratic government. At the heart of his scheme is a process for the adjudication of issues of public policy by assemblies of randomly selected citizens convened to debate and vote on the issues, resulting in the enactment of laws subject both to judicial review and to possible veto by the executive and legislative branches. The popular branch would fulfill a purpose similar to the ballot initiative and referendum but would avoid the shortcomings associated with those forms of direct democracy. Leib takes special pains to show how this new branch would be integrated with the already existing governmental and political institutions of our society, including administrative agencies and political parties, and would thus complement rather than supplant them.

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9780271023632

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Reviews

Most contemporary work in political theory that relates to deliberative democracy has become far too abstract. Ethan Leib goes to the heart of the matter by asking how deliberative democracy can really work under existing conditions. In doing this, he has written an important book for anyone concerned about the future of democracy. - Kevin Mattson, Ohio University; Leib makes a bold foray into the realm of Constitutional design that adds sorely needed suggestions for fundamental institutional change into debates about deliberative democracy. With uncommon insight and creativity, he draws upon practical innovations in local deliberation such as citizen juries and deliberative polls to construct a proposal for an entirely new branch of government that would inject direct popular deliberation into law-making. His book is highly profitable and provocative for anyone interested in the deeply democratic reform of American government. - Archon Fung, Harvard University

Author Information

Ethan J. Leib is Assistant Professor of Law at University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

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