Overview: Written by the preeminent democratic theorist of our time, this book explains the nature, value, and mechanics of democracy. This new edition includes two additional chapters by Ian Shapiro, Dahl's successor as Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale and a leading contemporary authority on democracy. One chapter deals with the prospects for democracy in light of developments since the advent of the Arab spring in 2010. The other...

What is democracy? How does it work? What are its strengths — and its shortcomings? Two-thirds of the world's population, in over 100 countries, live under governments that claim to be democratic. Yet few of those governments live up to the ideals of democracy, or respect its key principles and institutions. Here, author Eamonn Butler defines democracy, explains its purposes, and shows the difference between genuine democracy and the many sham versions...

Ian Shapirois Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University, where he also serves as Henry R. Luce Director of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies. Among his many books are The Flight from Reality in the Human Sciences and, with Michael J. Graetz, Death by a Thousand Cuts (both Princeton); and The Moral Foundations of Politics. What should we expect from democracy, and how likely is it that democracies will live up to...

The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, first published in 1944, is considered one of the most profound and relevant works by the influential theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and certainly the fullest statement of his political philosophy. Written and first read during the prolonged, tragic world war between totalitarian and democratic forces, Niebuhr's book took up the timely question of how democracy as a political system could best be defended. ...

"Allan C. Stam, Winner in 2004, and Dan Reiter, Winner in 2002, of the Karl Deutsch Award, International Studies Association" Dan Reiter is Associate Professor and Winship Research Professor in the Department of Political Science at Emory University. He is the author of Crucible of Beliefs: Learning, Alliances, and World Wars. Allan C. Stam is Associate Professor of Government and Deputy Director of Academic Programs at Rockefeller Center, Dartmouth...

Following the economic meltdown and the triumph of Barack Obama, have the chances of genuine democracy improved? In this updated edition of The No-Nonsense Guide to Democracy, Richard Swift explores how democracy has been constricted and deformed by economic power brokers and a self-serving political class from Birmingham to Bangalore. He considers the different tools people in power have used to manipulate democratic principles, such as freedom,...

Benjamin R. Barber is Whitman Professor of Political Science and Director of the Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy at Rutgers University. Among his many books are The Conquest of Politics (Princeton), which collects his philosophical essays, An Aristocracy of Everyone, and Jihad vs. McWorld. Benjamin Barber is one of America's preeminent political theorists. He has been a significant voice in the continuing debate about...

"A brilliant exploration of freedom-what it is, how it's been misunderstood, and why it's our only chance for survival. Drawing on the work of philosophers and political dissidents, conversations with contemporary thinkers, and his own experiences coming of age in a time of American exceptionalism, Snyder identifies the practices and attitudes--the habits of mind--that will allow us to design a government in which we and future generations can flourish....

Pierre Rosanvallon is professor at the Collège de France and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. His many books include Counter- Democracy, The Demands of Liberty, Democracy Past and Future, and The New Social Question (Princeton). It's a commonplace that citizens in Western democracies are disaffected with their political leaders and traditional democratic institutions. But in Democratic Legitimacy, Pierre Rosanvallon,...

A comprehensive text on the theory and practice of public participation Written by two leaders in the field, “Public Participation for 21st Century Democracy” explores the theory and practice of public participation in decision-making and problem-solving. It examines how public participation developed over time to include myriad thick, thin, and conventional opportunities, occurring in both face-to-face meetings and online settings. The book explores...