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On democracy

Front Cover
19 Reviews
Yale University Press, 2000 - Philosophy - 217 pages
The last half of the twentieth century has been an era of democratic triumph. The main antidemocratic regimes - communist, fascist, Nazi - have disappeared, and new democracies are emerging vigorously or tentatively throughout the world. In this accessible and authoritative book, one of the most prominent political theorists of our time provides a primer on democracy that clarifies what it is, why it is valuable, how it works, and what challenges it confronts in the future. Robert Dahl begins with an overview of the early history of democracy. He goes on to discuss differences among democracies, criteria for a democratic process, basic institutions necessary for advancing the goals of democracy, and the social and economic conditions that favor the development and maintenance of these institutions. Along the way, he illustrates his points by describing different democratic countries, explaining, for example, why India, which seems to lack most of the conditions for a stable democracy, is nevertheless able to sustain one. Dahl answers such puzzling questions as why market-capitalism can both favor and harm democracy. And he concludes by examining the major problems that democratic countries will face in the twenty-first century, problems that will arise from complexities in the economic order, from internationalization, from cultural diversity, and from the difficulty of achieving an adequate level of citizen competence.
  

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Review: On Democracy

User Review  - Konstantinos Chatzigeorgiou - Goodreads

A good, if not short, recap of democratic theory. Robert A. Dahl is a prominent political scientist and this is very evident throughout his books so stay away if your interests lie in radical ... Read full review

Review: On Democracy

User Review  - Hadrian - Goodreads

Brief summary of democratic theory. Differences between the ideal and what we get in reality. In Dahl's view, no government in the world has lived up to the Platonic ideal of Democracy, but some have ... Read full review

All 19 reviews »

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Selected pages

Contents

Do We Really Need a Guide?
1
Where and How Did Democracy Develop? A Brief History
7
What Lies Ahead?
26
What Is Democracy?
35
Why Democracy?
44
Why Political Equality I? Intrinsic Equality
62
Why Political Equality II? Civic Competence
69
What Political Institutions Does LargeScale Democracy Require?
83
Why MarketCapitalism Favors Democracy
166
Why MarketCapitalism Harms Democracy
173
The Unfinished Journey
180
On Electoral Systems
189
Political Accommodation in Culturally or Ethnically Divided Countries
192
On Counting Democratic Countries
196
Notes
201
Further Reading
209

Varieties I Democracy on Different Scales
100
Varieties II Constitutions
119
Varieties III Parties and Electoral Systems
130
What Underlying Conditions Favor Democracy?
145
Acknowledgments
213
Index
215
Copyright

Other editions - View all

On Democracy
On Democracy
Robert Alan Dahl
No preview available - 1998

Common terms and phrases

achieve adults agenda Alexis de Tocqueville alternative American Andrew Reynolds answer assembly democracy association Athenian Athenian Democracy authoritarian believe Ben Reilly chapter citizens coercion consequences consociational democracy constitutional arrangements cratic crucial cultural conflicts decisions demo democ DEMOCRACY REQUIRE democratic countries democratic criteria democratic government democratic ideas democratic process economic effective electoral system elites example exist experience favor democracy FPTP freedom Freedom House fundamental gerrymander goals Greeks highly human important independent India insure interests intrinsic equality John Stuart Mill judgments laws leaders legislature majority market economy market-capitalism market-capitalist economy means ment military mocracy modern representative nomic nondemocratic older democracies parliament parliamentary percent persons policies political equality political system polyarchal democracy popular government question racy reasons regimes representative democracy representative government republic solution suffrage tions twentieth century underlying conditions United voters votes Yale University

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References from web pages

Democracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Socialist thought has several different views on democracy. Social democracy, democratic socialism, and the dictatorship of the proletariat (usually ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Democracy

On Democracy
CHAPTER ONE. On Democracy. By ROBERT A. DAHL Yale University Press. Read the Review. Do We Really Need a Guide? During the last half of the twentieth ...
www.nytimes.com/ books/ first/ d/ dahl-democracy.html

JSTOR: On Democracy
On Democracy Robert Dahl New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998, pp. 217 Robert Dahl's On Democracy is sure to become a classic. It is written with elegant ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0008-4239(200006)33%3A2%3C435%3AOD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6

Undemocracy in America: Robert Dahl On Democracy And Capitalism
Amazon.com: On Democracy (Yale Nota Bene): Books: Robert A. Dahl In this book, at the end, RD notes that the relationship between democracy and capitalism ...
undemocracy.blogspot.com/ 2007/ 01/ robert-dahl-on-democracy-and.html

Dahl, On Democracy Free Term Papers, Free Essays, and Free Book ...
Free essay on Dahl, On Democracy and free term papers on Dahl, On Democracy. Democracy has become the most widespread political form ...
www.oppapers.com/ essays/ Dahl-Democracy/ 125585

Portland State University Studies | Freshman Inquiry: On Democracy
ON DEMOCRACY: THE HISTORY OF AN IDEA (UNST 131, 132, 133) ... On Democracy. detocquevelle, Alex. Democracy in America. Dewey, John. ...
www.pdx.edu/ unst/ frinq_democracy.html

excerpts from the book On Democracy by Robert A. Dahl
excerpts from the book. On Democracy. by Robert A. Dahl. Yale University Press, 1998. p11 THE MEDITERRANEAN. It was in classical Greece and Rome around 500 ...
www.thirdworldtraveler.com/ Democracy/ On_Democracy_Dahl.html

ِDr. Kazemzadeh-Syllabus for Democracy and Democratization
Robert Dahl, On Democracy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998, 2000). Robert Dahl, Ian Shapiro, and Jose Antonio Cheibub, editors, The Democracy ...
www.ghandchi.com/ iranscope/ Anthology/ Kazemzadeh/ Syllabus.htm

Robert Dahl's On Democracy Aaron Miller PSC 129 January 31, 2001 ...
Also, he includes a further reading section at the end of the book, broken down into the categories that On Democracy covers. ...
web.syr.edu/ ~gavan/ miller.html

Robert A. Dahl: Defender of Democracy
learned works on democracy and government since at least. 1940. His books include A Preface to .... In On Democracy, Dahl makes the case for democracy as ...
www.springerlink.com/ index/ m618854221738506.pdf

About the author (2000)

Robert A. Dahl is the Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Yale University. His numerous books include, most recently, "How Democratic is the American Constitution?" and "On Democracy,"

Bibliographic information

QR code for On democracy
TitleOn democracy
Nota Bene series
Yale Nota Bene book
Yale Nota bene
AuthorRobert A. Dahl
Editionillustrated, reprint
PublisherYale University Press, 2000
ISBN0300084552, 9780300084559
Length217 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Philosophy / Political
Political Science / History & Theory
Political Science / Political Ideologies / Democracy
  
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