Transnational Reform and Democracy
Election Reforms in New York City and Berlin Around 1900
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 16995342 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hedwig Richter (Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 149-175 |
| Publication date | 2016-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1537-7814 • E-ISSN: 1943-3557 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1537781415000821 |
| OpenAlex | W2339372751 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 19 |
“Disenchantment with democracy” is Sven Beckert's diagnosis for the United States around 1900. According to Beckert, the era's elites paid little regard to the ideals of democracy and worked to exclude the lower classes from the electoral process. But was acceptance of democracy really that low? Previously overlooked elite discourses and efforts—particularly discussions that dealt with the practice of elections—show that this explanation does not tell the whole story. By drawing on endeavors concerning election reform in New York City, I argue that at the turn of the century a new understanding of democracy became a kind of modern consensus. This was the case not only in New York, a city in a republic, but also in Berlin, in the Prussian constitutional monarchy. These findings support the interpretation that around 1900 the understanding and acceptance of democracy underwent a seminal change in the transatlantic world. The consensus held that state legitimacy required mass participation and, even more, that mass participation was connected to “everybody” and to a meaning of “universal”— though this ideal of “universal” was constructed and exclusive in important ways
Constitutional monarchy · Democracy · Disenchantment · Elite · Ideal (ethics) · Interpretation (philosophy) · Legitimacy · Meaning (existential) · Monarchy · Original meaning · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · European Political History Analysis · Law · Philosophy · Public Administration
From Political Insult to Political Theory
Is There History after Eurocentrism
The Government of American Cities
Election Methods and Reforms in Philadelphia
Democracy and Its Discontents
Reforming Voting Practices in a Global Age
Anti-Partism and Party Control of Political Reform in the United States
The Ballot in New York
New Perspectives on Election Fraud in the Gilded Age
Mass Suffrage, Secret Voting and Political Participation
The Political Economy of Voting Rights Enforcement in America's Gilded Age
Shaping Democratic Practice and the Causes of Electoral Fraud
Campaigan Rituals and Ceremonies
"An Obituary for "The Progressive Movement
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,13 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2018 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |