Democracy: The Unfinished Journey, 508 BC to AD 1993 / Edition 1

by John Dunn

Overview

The form of democracy first introduced 2,500 years ago by Kleisthenes—introduced, some scholars say, for his own personal gain—is quite different from what we call democracy today. And yet what was essentially a casual, practical solution to local Greek political difficulties has come to stand virtually unchallenged as the ground for modern political authority, and the questions which the Greeks first raised about the meaning of democratic rule still loom over our political and economic life. In Democracy, noted author John Dunn and twelve expert contributors trace the extraordinary political career of democracy from its appearance in ancient Greece to its recent resurrection in Eastern Europe. As the recent collapse of socialism demonstrates, the idea of democracy still holds a powerful attraction for us. By viewing its astonishing history across this great arc of time, the book shows why democracy today has both the power and the vulnerability which make it the key to understanding politics, and explains why it has triumphed so decisively in the modern world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198279341
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/27/1994
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	9.18(w) x 6.14(h) x 0.68(d)
Lexile:	1400L (what's this?)

About the Author

About the Editor:
John Dunn is Fellow of Kings College and Professor of Political Theory at Cambridge University.

Editorial Reviews

"An excellent political science reader or useful reading for students of law, government, or diplomacy in need of a detailed analysis of this institution."—American Society of International Law Newsletter

"A tour de force of description and analysis, taking the reader from ancient Greece to Tiananmen Square and the present disintegration of federal Yugoslavia...the essays are bright, stimulating and of considerable interest to those who want to understand how that fragile concept, democracy, had evolved...an enlightened route map of the progress so far."—The Times Higher Education Supplement

"It is the message of John Dunn's instructive collection that democracy is special...contains several noteworthy pieces [including] Simon Hornblower's...elegant account of the creation of democratic institutions in ancient Greece...Quentin Skinner's...illuminating interpretation of democratic experiments in the Italian city-republics from the 12th century onwards...it is as a history of democratic ideology that the book is most worthwhile."—Times of London

"We have come to expect John Dunn to search the past for ideas which may help to illuminate the chances and dangers of the present, and to address such aspects of contemporary experience as we trust will decide the shape of the future. Readers of Democracy...will find none of their hopes dashed. Professor Dunn has commissioned highly reputed and trustworthy experts to explore the links between the past promises and frustrations of democratic theory and practice, and its present plight and prospects...go[es] a long way to cataloguing the gains and losses of democratic theory and practice, baring the historical roots of both and discovering what now feeds them."—Times Literary Supplement

"Wonderful historical journey: wide-ranging, coherent, and probing. Democracy is a splendid book."—Raymond Belliotti,SUNY Fredonia

From the Publisher