The Institutions of Liberal Democratic States

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2005

JA66

2004-275950

1-55111-700-2

The institutions of liberal democratic states.

Eagles, Munroe et al.

Broadview Press, [c]2004

143 p.

$12.95 (pa)

This undergraduate supplement compares presidential and parliamentary systems of government, such as those found in the US and Canada, as well as hybrid systems such as that of France. It describes how unitary and federal systems govern territory, how the powers are divided and decentralized, and how supranational federalism works, as in the European Union. Finally, the authors examine how religious, linguistic, ethnic, urban/rural, and cleavages emerge or are planned into systems, and how electoral and other systems work to maintain at least some semblance of democracy. This is a section reprinted separately from Politics: An Introduction to Democratic Government by the same authors.