 Andrew Roberts, The Quality of Democracy Many new democracies and perhaps even some older democracies do not appear to be functioning as democracies should. Politicians ignore public opinion, go back on their campaign promises, and are not held accountable at elections. The five books under review chart a new research program that addresses these issues. They attempt to measure the presence of responsiveness, mandates, and accountability and explain their causes. This new agenda might be termed the quality of democracy, and it constitutes the next step in research on democratization. |