The decline of representative democracy

the long version

"Based on a leading scholar's firsthand observations of legislatures as well as extensive interviews with legislators, legislative staff, and lobbyists, this important new work describes and analyzes the contemporary state of legislatures and the legislative process in the fifty states. It explores the principal elements of legislatures, including the processes by which legislation is enacted, the impact of the media, political competition and partisanship, lobbyists and lobbying, the challenge of ethics, the roll of leadership, and the linkage between legislators and their constituencies."--BOOK JACKET.