Elite foundations of liberal democracy / John Higley and Michael Burton.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-218) and index.

1. Elites and regimes -- 2. Disunited elites and unstable regimes -- 3. Settlements among disunited elites -- 4. Colonial origins of consensually united elites -- 5. Convergences among disunited elites -- 6. Elites and liberal democratic prospects

"This study argues that political regimes are created and sustained by elites. Liberal democracies are no exception; they depend, above all, on the formation and persistence of consensually united elites. John Higley and Michael Burton explore the circumstances and ways in which such elites have formed in the modern world. They identify pressures that may cause a basic change in the structure and functioning of elites in established liberal democracies, and they ask if the elites clustered around George W. Bush are a harbinger of this change. The authors' argument reframes our thinking about liberal democracy and questions optimistic assumptions about the prospects for its spread in the twenty-first century."--BOOK JACKET.