LEADER 03591nam 2200613 a 450 001 9910808715703321 005 20230725050843.0 010 $a1-283-21580-2 010 $a9786613215802 010 $a0-19-987729-7 035 $a(CKB)2550000000043084 035 $a(StDuBDS)AH24088592 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000523155 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12222989 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000523155 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10539160 035 $a(PQKB)11571271 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3054241 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000043084 100 $a20110906d2011 my 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aHiring and Firing Public Officials$b[electronic resource] $eRethinking the Purpose of Elections /$fby Justin Buchler 210 $aNew York $cOUP USA$d2011 215 $a1 online resource (272 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-19-975996-0 327 $a1. Elections and the Politics of Threats 2. What is Electoral Competition? 3. Elections as Employment Mechanisms 4. Market Competition 5. Electoral Actors in the Market and Employment Models 6. Competitive Elections in the Market and Employment Models 7. Competitive Behavior and Competitive Elections 8. Corruption and Competition 9. Policy Implications of the Market and Employment Models 10. Conclusions References 330 $bConventional theories of elections hold that an election is analogous to a consumer product market. According to the market paradigm, voters are consumers, candidates are competing firms, and an election is a market in which voters exchange votes for policy by voting for the candidates whose policies they prefer. According to this logic, a healthy democracy requires frequent competitive elections. The market analogy underlies decades of electoral theory, but in Hiring and Firing Public Officials, Justin Buchler contends that it does not capture the real nature of elections. In fact, our widespread dissatisfaction with the current state of electoral politics derives from a fundamental misunderstanding of what elections are and what purpose they serve. As Justin Buchler shows, an election is a mechanism by which voters hire and fire public officials. It is not a consumer product market--it is a single employment decision. Thus, the health of democracy depends not on regular competitive elections, but on posing a credible threat to fire public officials who do not perform their jobs well. However, the purpose of that threat is to force public officials to act as faithful public servants so that they do not have to be fired. Thus, competitive elections, by most definitions, are indicative of a failure of the democratic system. 606 $aElections$xPolitical aspects$zUnited States 606 $aVoting$zUnited States 606 $aCompetition$zUnited States 606 $aGovernment - U.S$2HILCC 606 $aLaw, Politics & Government$2HILCC 606 $aPolitical Rights - U.S$2HILCC 608 $aElectronic books.$2lcsh 615 0$aElections$xPolitical aspects 615 0$aVoting 615 0$aCompetition 615 7$aGovernment - U.S. 615 7$aLaw, Politics & Government 615 7$aPolitical Rights - U.S. 676 $a324.973 700 $aBuchler$b Justin$01671240 801 0$bStDuBDS 801 1$bStDuBDS 801 2$bUkPrAHLS 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910808715703321 996 $aHiring and Firing Public Officials$94033651 997 $aUNINA