Democracy Declined
The Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection
248 pages
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72 line drawings, 19 tables
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6 x 9
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© 2020
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
List of Abbreviations
1. Democracy Declined: The Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection
2. Full Disclosure: Building the U.S. Political Economy of Credit
3. “Storming Mad” but Staying Home: Depoliticizing the American Borrower
4. The “Horseless Headmen”: Consumer Groups and the Challenge of Political Mobilization
5. Democratization and Its Discontents: Demobilizing Marginalized Borrowers
6. Race to the Bottom: Administrative Rulemaking in the Political Economy of Credit
7. A New Lease? The Uncertain Political Future of Consumer Financial Protection
Acknowledgments
Data Appendix
Notes
References
Index
Data Appendix
Notes
References
Index
Review Quotes
Desmond King, University of Oxford
“Democracy Declined is an elegant and timely book engaged with the compelling public policy issue of credit access and its regulation. SoRelle superbly integrates insights from historical institutional arguments in political science with a range of methods, including archival and experimental. Written in fluid, clear prose, this is an important and original work which will be widely read and cited."
Dara Z. Strolovtich, Yale University
“Democracy Declined offers an original, incisive, and richly-documented analysis of the political consequences of a consumption-driven American economy built on a foundation of consumer credit. Combining rigorous analyses of multiple and rich sources of evidence with well-founded proposals for alternative ways forward, SoRelle demonstrates that the absence of a more vigorous consumer financial protection regime in the United States is no accident but rather the path-dependent effects of New Deal-era policies that have foiled attempts at any regulation that might threaten the flow of credit. SoRelle’s meticulously researched, engaged, and insightful book is a major and much-needed contribution to our understanding of this crucial but long-overlooked feature of the American political economy and of the history and politics of credit, social policy, and the welfare state more broadly.”
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Political Science: American Government and Politics | Public Policy
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