Description: What is democracy? How can it be defended and justified? How do we understand the complexities of democracy in a world of rapid change?
At a time when democracy appears to be universally acclaimed as the only acceptable form of government, it is all the more necessary to be clear about what democracy means. "Democracy: A Reader" provides a range of pivotal statements on this important topic from supporters and defenders as well as critics and skeptics, including Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, de Tocqueville, Kant, Wollstonecraft, Schumpeter, Berlin, Marx, Lenin, Phillips, Young, Dahl, Kymlicka, Parekh, Walzer, Hayek, Habermas, Scruton, Barry, and Mouffe.
Key topics include:
- Freedom and autonomy
- Equality
- Representation
- Majority rule
- Citizenship
- Marxist and socialist critiques
- Conservative, elitist, and authoritarian critiques
- Feminist critiques
- Civil society
- The market
- Nationalism
- Multiculturalism
- Non-Western perspectives
- The future of democracy
Within the space of one volume this comprehensive coverage provides a genuine "handbook" to help citizens of democratic societies understand the ideals underpinning their societies, the ways their societies can live up to the democratic ideals they proclaim, and the obstacles that lie in the path of democracy today.

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