Elena Panova (Quebec): A Passion for Democracy. Michael S. Kang (Emory): Sore Loser Laws and Democratic Contestation. Nicholas Stephanopoulos (Columbia): Redistricting and the Territorial Community. Luis E. Fuentes-Rohwer (Indiana): Looking for a Few Good Philosopher Kings: Political Gerrymandering as a Question of Institutional Competence. As states redo Congressional districts, hobbyists draw their own lines; "the Baconmander". How long before hackers steal votes? In the US, the only things standing between democracy and election fraud are a few pieces of adhesive tape. The first chapter from A Behavioral Theory of Elections by Jonathan Bendor, Daniel Diermeier, David A. Siegel and Michael M. Ting. Local politics — schools, zoning, council elections — hit us where we live, so why don't more of us actually get involved? Is it apathy? Dave Meslin says no — he identifies 7 barriers that keep us from taking part in our communities, even when we truly care. The first chapter from Why Americans Don't Join the Party: Race, Immigration, and the Failure (of Political Parties) to Engage the Electorate by Zoltan L. Hajnal and Taeku Lee. Should the ignorant be urged to vote? Yes, declining voter turnout is a troubling trend — but if you aren’t aware of the issues, should you really be casting a ballot? The first chapter from The Ethics of Voting by Jason Brennan. A review of The Promise of Democracy: Political Agency and Transformation by Fred Dallmayr. Adrian Vermeule (Harvard): Government by Public Opinion. Michele Margolis (MIT) and Anthony Fowler (Harvard): The Bias of Uninformed Voters. Why elections are literally beauty contests: Mat Iredale explains that we’re not nearly as rational as we like to think we are. From Cracked, here are 5 reasons humanity is terrible at democracy.
