In April 2023, Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two African American Democratic members of the one-hundred-person legislative chamber, were expelled from office by overwhelming majorities. Jones was removed by a vote of 72\u201325, while Pearson was removed by a vote of 69\u201326. They were removed for \u201cknowingly and intentionally [bringing] disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives\u201d as part of their peaceful protests against gun violence.[footnote]Zhou, \u201cTennessee Legislature\u2019s Expulsion.\u201d[\/footnote]\u00a0<\/span>A third Democrat, Representative Gloria Johnson, a White woman who also participated in the protests, was not expelled, short one vote of the necessary two-thirds threshold required. Almost all the votes followed party lines, as Republicans held a supermajority with seventy-five of the one hundred seats. [footnote]Ballotpedia, \u201cTennessee General Assembly.\u201d[\/footnote] Representative Jones offered, \u201cWhat the nation is seeing is that we don\u2019t have a democracy in Tennessee.\u201d[footnote]Beauchamp, \u201cStudy Confirms It.\u201d[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n Tennessee is not alone in making headlines for a potential undemocratic turn. North Carolina \u201cis no longer classified as a democracy,\u201d according to headlines from one of the authors of the Electoral Integrity Project<\/span><\/a><\/span> (EIP).[footnote]Matthews, \u201cPolitical Scientist\u201d; Reynolds, \u201cNorth Carolina.\u201d But see Gelman, \u201cAbout That Bogus Claim.\u201d[\/footnote] The study cites the degree of gerrymandering, or the drawing of legislative lines to give the Republicans (in this instance) an unfair advantage, and how the state implements voter registration and election administration among other challenges. The EIP was no fan of Tennessee, either, ranking the state forty-ninth out of fifty in electoral integrity. [footnote]Flavin and Shufeldt, \u201cComparing Two Measures.\u201d[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n However, political scientists have somewhat in the past and are starting, more and more, in the present to assess and compare how the states are faring in the basic functions of democracy. [footnote]Key, Southern Politics; Hill, Democracy in the Fifty States.[\/footnote]<\/span>The Elections Performance Index<\/span><\/a><\/span> from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Pew Research Center empirically assesses how states administer elections and finds many of them lacking. [footnote]Pew Charitable Trusts, \u201cElections Performance Index: Methodology.\u201d[\/footnote] More broadly, political scientists are increasingly focusing on \u201cdemocratic erosion\u201d or \u201cdemocratic backsliding\u201d in the United States as states seem to be getting less, not more, small-d<\/em><\/span> democratic.[footnote]Foa and Mounk, \u201cDanger of Deconsolidation\u201d; Fishkin and Pozen, \u201cAsymmetrical Constitutional Hardball\u201d; Huq and Ginsburg, \u201cHow to Lose a Constitutional Democracy\u201d; Varol \u201cStealth Authoritarianism\u201d; Waldner and Lust, \u201cUnwelcome Change\u201d; Levitsky and Ziblatt, How Democracies Die; Flavin and Shufeldt, \u201cState Pride and the Quality of Democracy\u201d; Flavin and Shufeldt, \u201cCitizens\u2019 Perceptions of the Quality of Democracy in the American States.\u201d[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n This significant state variation ought to make one question how well the country and each of the fifty states are doing at meeting the promise of small-d<\/em><\/span> democracy that started in places like Jamestown, Virginia\u2014where a five-day meeting in August 1619 is considered the birthplace of American democracy.[footnote]Vinson, \u201cBirthplace of American Democracy.\u201d[\/footnote] Others point to and romanticize the town hall meetings of New England that predate the founding of the country and are still practiced today.[footnote]Bryan, Real Democracy; Zimmerman, New England Town Meeting; Zuckerman, \u201cMirage of Democracy\u201d; Perry and Rathke, \u201cIn Vermont, \u2018Town Meeting.\u2019\u201d[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n However, no state is perfect\u2014each has more and less democratic components. How can one country and fifty states possibly represent more than 345 million Americans? This debate today, and one you will embark on by reading this book, is the same debate the founders had almost 250 years ago\u2014how best to set up a democratic government. We have organized the remaining chapters against two considerations:<\/p>\r\n\r\n The variation across the fifty states is exciting. As we will discuss throughout the book, the rules and political institutions vary in meaningful ways. States differ considerably, choosing divergent public policies. When should we consider these just differences of opinion? When should we consider that states have gone too far in limiting the rights of their citizens? Each chapter will begin with a short case study written by the editors providing just one example highlighting how states can serve as laboratories of democracy or autocracy across the remaining eleven substantive chapters written by six distinct authors.<\/p>\r\n In their assessment of democratic backsliding in the United States, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt challenge the reader, \u201cFew societies in history have managed to be both multiracial and genuinely democratic. That is our challenge. It is also our opportunity. If we meet it, America will truly be exceptional.\u201d[footnote]Levitsky and Ziblatt, How Democracies Die.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n\r\n What does it mean for a country to be a democracy? Are there degrees to democracy? Can a state be more or less democratic?<\/p>\r\n What are the necessary and sufficient conditions (or minimal requirements) that make a country a democracy?<\/p>\r\n What sort of previous knowledge, values, and political opinions are you bringing with you as you begin to read this textbook?<\/p>","rendered":" In April 2023, Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two African American Democratic members of the one-hundred-person legislative chamber, were expelled from office by overwhelming majorities. Jones was removed by a vote of 72\u201325, while Pearson was removed by a vote of 69\u201326. They were removed for \u201cknowingly and intentionally [bringing] disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives\u201d as part of their peaceful protests against gun violence.[1]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>A third Democrat, Representative Gloria Johnson, a White woman who also participated in the protests, was not expelled, short one vote of the necessary two-thirds threshold required. Almost all the votes followed party lines, as Republicans held a supermajority with seventy-five of the one hundred seats. [2]<\/sup><\/a> Representative Jones offered, \u201cWhat the nation is seeing is that we don\u2019t have a democracy in Tennessee.\u201d[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Tennessee is not alone in making headlines for a potential undemocratic turn. North Carolina \u201cis no longer classified as a democracy,\u201d according to headlines from one of the authors of the Electoral Integrity Project<\/span><\/a><\/span> (EIP).[4]<\/sup><\/a> The study cites the degree of gerrymandering, or the drawing of legislative lines to give the Republicans (in this instance) an unfair advantage, and how the state implements voter registration and election administration among other challenges. The EIP was no fan of Tennessee, either, ranking the state forty-ninth out of fifty in electoral integrity. [5]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n However, political scientists have somewhat in the past and are starting, more and more, in the present to assess and compare how the states are faring in the basic functions of democracy. [6]<\/sup><\/a><\/span>The Elections Performance Index<\/span><\/a><\/span> from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Pew Research Center empirically assesses how states administer elections and finds many of them lacking. [7]<\/sup><\/a> More broadly, political scientists are increasingly focusing on \u201cdemocratic erosion\u201d or \u201cdemocratic backsliding\u201d in the United States as states seem to be getting less, not more, small-d<\/em><\/span> democratic.[8]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n This significant state variation ought to make one question how well the country and each of the fifty states are doing at meeting the promise of small-d<\/em><\/span> democracy that started in places like Jamestown, Virginia\u2014where a five-day meeting in August 1619 is considered the birthplace of American democracy.[9]<\/sup><\/a> Others point to and romanticize the town hall meetings of New England that predate the founding of the country and are still practiced today.[10]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n However, no state is perfect\u2014each has more and less democratic components. How can one country and fifty states possibly represent more than 345 million Americans? This debate today, and one you will embark on by reading this book, is the same debate the founders had almost 250 years ago\u2014how best to set up a democratic government. We have organized the remaining chapters against two considerations:<\/p>\n The variation across the fifty states is exciting. As we will discuss throughout the book, the rules and political institutions vary in meaningful ways. States differ considerably, choosing divergent public policies. When should we consider these just differences of opinion? When should we consider that states have gone too far in limiting the rights of their citizens? Each chapter will begin with a short case study written by the editors providing just one example highlighting how states can serve as laboratories of democracy or autocracy across the remaining eleven substantive chapters written by six distinct authors.<\/p>\n In their assessment of democratic backsliding in the United States, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt challenge the reader, \u201cFew societies in history have managed to be both multiracial and genuinely democratic. That is our challenge. It is also our opportunity. If we meet it, America will truly be exceptional.\u201d[13]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n What does it mean for a country to be a democracy? Are there degrees to democracy? Can a state be more or less democratic?<\/p>\n What are the necessary and sufficient conditions (or minimal requirements) that make a country a democracy?<\/p>\n What sort of previous knowledge, values, and political opinions are you bringing with you as you begin to read this textbook?<\/p>\n\r\n \t
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Critical Thinking Questions<\/h2>\r\n
Chapter 1 Case Study: Fifty States, Fifty Democracies?<\/h1>\n
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Critical Thinking Questions<\/h2>\n