Across the past decade, Pippa Norris’s work on democracy has asked how democracy develops, what democracy provides, and how democracy fares in its relationship to, e.g., the media, electoral rules, gender, and religion. In Driving Democracy, she asks how democratic political systems might be consolidated and sustained across time, and investigates types of political structures that might serve to increase democrac’s chances of taking hold and succeeding. Grounded in a multiple-methods comparative approach, Driving Democracy summarizes and critiques a wide range of democratic literatures; develops comprehensive tests of democratic development; and concludes that, with qualifications, power-sharing arrangements offer democracy its best chances for success. As a result, Driving Democracy is a major contribution to scholarship on democracy. It will be required reading in courses on political development, comparative democracies, democratic transitions, and electoral studies, and will serve as a touchstone volume for scholars of democratic politics.” -Karen Beckwith, Case Western Reserve University
“In this meticulously researched and clearly written book, Pippa Norris makes a compelling case for the value of power-sharing institutions. She shows that such institutions increase the likelihood of successful democratic governance and do so independently of other factors, including economic development, colonial history or regional neighborhood. The book is methodologically rigorous, combining the strengths of qualitative case-study and quantitative (large-N) approaches. Norris is ultra-careful throughout, avoiding unsubstantiated claims, and consistently confronting alternative explanations to her own. Her book will impact not just on the academy but, more importantly, on the policy world where getting it right on these matters saves lives.” -John McGarry, Canada Research Chair in Nationalism and Democracy, Queen’s University, Canada and Senior Expert in Power-Sharing at the UN (Dept. of Political Affairs)
“In Driving Democracy Pippa Norris has conducted the most systematic investigation of the effect of power sharing institutions since Lijphart’s groundbreaking work of the 1970s. The fact that she finds significant evidence to support the thesis that power sharing is better for new democracies offers some hope to the most fragile divided societies in the world today.” -Andrew Reynolds, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"With the publication of this book, Pippa Norris further secures her reputation as one of our leading scholars of democratization and democratic consolidation. But far from being cloistered in the academy, Norris has also been at the forefront of international policy debates over democracy promotion, having recently served as director for democratic governance at the United Nations Development Program. In Driving Democracy she has sought to bridge both worlds and has succeeded brilliantly. As a consequence, this is a book that most political scientists, irrespective of subfield, can and should read with profit...The book is both a tour de force and a tour d'horizon." Perspectives on Politics, Ethan B. Kapstein, INSEAD
