Comparing pluralist democracies : strains on legitimacy /

An analysis of the crisis of political legitimacy that is mounting in the pluralist democracies. Representing a little less than one-third of the world's political systems, pluralist democracies appear to rest on fragile bases as traditional values decline without being replaced by new value supports. Of particular concern is the decline of patriotism, along with mounting suspicion of the capitalist system and its ability to ameliorate social distress. This work is organized into nine chapters each dealing with some aspect of the legitimacy crisis. An introduction is provided by the editor who is also a contributor to a chapter dealing with the welfare state. The bulk of the material concerns Western Europe. The final chapter, also authored by the editor, speculates on the political future of pluralist democracy. All of the contributors have standing in the comparative field. Their essays were selected from papers delivered at an international conference at the Science Center in Berlin, in July 1985. This collection brings together a body of data designed to compare similarities and differences among the pluralist democracies from the vantage point of political culture. For upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. -V. E. McHale, Case Western Reserve University