Democracy in Europe
- List Price: $110.00
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr
- Publish date: 04/01/2001
Larry Siedentop examines whether representative government is feasible, given the vast physical scale and human diversity of Europe. He explores the threat to local autonomy and individual freedom, and he anatomizes the widely different political cultures of Britain, France, and Germany. He balances throughout an understanding of the great theorists of supranational government, especially Montesquieu and de Tocqueville, with a deep, though critical, appreciation of contemporary Europe. Siedentop argues that only a publicly discussed and commonly agreed upon constitution will sustain a democratic Europe equal to the pressures it will have to withstand. The moves toward integration in Europe already in progress, and those as yet only planned, will change the world. It is up to the present generation of citizens and politicians, says Siedentop, to ensure that those changes are for the better.