Democracy and Its Critics

by Robert A. Dahl

• ISBN13: 9780300049381
• ISBN10: 0300049382
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1991-07-24
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

In this prize-winning book, one of the most prominent political theorists of our time makes a major statement about what democracy is and why it is important. Robert Dahl examines the most basic assumptions of democratic theory, tests them against the questions raised by its critics, and recasts the theory of democracy into a new and coherent whole. He concludes by discussing the direction in which democracy must move if advanced democratic states are to exist in the future.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	1	(12)
PART ONE THE SOURCES OF MODERN DEMOCRACY
The First Transformation: To the Democratic City-State	13	(11)
Toward the Second Transformation: Republicanism, Representation, and the Logic of Equality	24	(13)
PART TWO ADVERSARIAL CRITICS
Anarchism	37	(15)
Guardianship	52	(13)
A Critique of Guardianship	65	(18)
PART THREE A THEORY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
Justifications: The Idea of Equal Intrinsic Worth	83	(14)
Personal Autonomy	97	(9)
A Theory of the Democratic Process	106	(13)
The Problem of Inclusion	119	(16)
PART FOUR PROBLEMS IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
Majority Rule and the Democratic Process	135	(18)
Is There a Better Alternative?	153	(10)
Process and Substance	163	(13)
Process versus Process	176	(17)
When Is a People Entitled to the Democratic Process?	193	(20)
PART FIVE THE LIMITS AND POSSIBILITIES OF DEMOCRACY
The Second Democratic Transformation: From the City-State to the Nation-State	213	(12)
Democracy, Polyarchy, and Participation	225	(7)
How Polyarchy Developed in Some Countries and Not Others	232	(12)
Why Polyarchy Developed in Some Countries and Not Others	244	(21)
Is Minority Domination Inevitable?	265	(15)
Pluralism, Polyarchy, and the Common Good	280	(19)
The Common Good as Process and Substance	299	(12)
PART SIX TOWARD A THIRD TRANSFORMATION
Democracy in Tomorrow's World	311	(11)
Sketches for an Advanced Democratic Country	322	(21)
Notes	343	(30)
Appendix	373	(2)
Bibliography	375	(10)
Index	385