PS 473 Lecture Outline:

Hibbing and Theiss-Morse (HTM): Stealth Democracy

I.    Policy and Process Space

A.  Research on policy attitudes that suggests policy space is an inadequate explanation

B.  How process space differs from policy space

C.  The relationship between policy and process space

D.  The impact of process judgments on political judgments: What does it explain?

1.    Approval of government

2.    Ross Perot

3.    Approval of reforms

4.    Compliance with the law

II.  The Processes People Want

III. Public Deliberation

IV.  Potential Problems and Limitations of the Study

A. Contradictory attitudes or fuzzy thinking in response to 1-sided questions?

B. 1998 survey data as possibly time-bound? During Lewinsky scandal, Clinton impeachment, and economic prosperity.

C. Circumstantial evidence?

1.    Using focus groups to resolve uncertainties

2.    Are other interpretations possible?

Review Questions:

1.  Review the research presented in HTM on the importance of policy attitudes in explaining public opinion and voting behavior.

2.  Compare the properties of policy and process space and the relative ability of each to explain public opinion and voting behavior in the U.S.

3.  Based on your understanding of the public’s assessments of specific processes and their relative assessments of the people and politicians, what can you say about what kind of representation the public prefers—delegate, trustee, direct democracy, or something else?

4.  What role does the public’s false consensus, their views on the utility of debate and compromise, and their evaluation of nondemocratic structures play in their desire for stealth government?

5. Evaluate the claim by some classic democratic theorists that public deliberation helps to create better citizens and better decisions, based on the evidence reviewed in HTM.

6.  What are some of the potential problems or limitations of HTM’s study?