Democracy: A Reader

by Ricardo Blaug

Overview

Democracy is an essential collection of source texts by major historical figures on the value of democracy, key concepts and practices, theoretical perspectives, and contemporary challenges. The volume includes reflections on democracy by Machiavelli, Hobbes, Madison, Mill, Lincoln, and Paine. It features Rousseau and Kant on freedom and autonomy; Locke on equality; Burke and Bakunin on representation; Wollheim and Tocqueville on majority rule; and Crick on citizenship. Conservative, Marxist, socialist, and feminist critiques are followed by new sections on the market, civil society, participation, the Internet, nationalism, religion, multiculturalism, cosmopolitan democracy, and violence. Perfect for course use, the book provides an unparalleled introduction to standard articulations of democracy and its multiple manifestations in our interconnected, conflict-ridden world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231539500
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	09/20/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Ricardo Blaug is a reader in democracy and political theory at the University of Westminster.

John Schwarzmantel is senior lecturer in politics at the University of Leeds.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Democracy—Triumph or Crisis?
Part I: Traditional Affirmations of Democracy
Introduction
1. Pericles
2. Aristotle
3. Niccolò Machiavelli
4. Thomas Hobbes
5. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
6. James Madison (et al.)
7. John Stuart Mill
8. Alexis de Tocqueville
9. The Putney Debates
10. Thomas Paine
11. The National Assembly of France
12. Abraham Lincoln
13. Joseph A. Schumpeter
Part II: Key Concepts
Section 1: Freedom and Autonomy
Introduction
14. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
15. Immanuel Kant
16. Benjamin Constant
17. Isaiah Berlin
18. Robert Paul Wolff
Section 2: Equality
Introduction
19. John Locke
20. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
21. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
22. R. H. Tawney
23. Bernard Williams
Section 3: Representation
Introduction
24. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
25. Edmund Burke
26. James Mill
27. Hanna Fenichel Pitkin
28. Anne Phillips
29. Iris Marion Young
30. Michael Bakunin
31. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Section 4: Majority Rule
Introduction
32. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
33. Richard Wollheim
34. John Stuart Mill
35. Alexis de Tocqueville
36. Giovanni Sartori
Section 5: Citizenship
Introduction
37. Aristotle
38. T. H. Marshall
39. Will Kymlicka and Wayne Norman
40. Bernard Crick
Part III: Critiques of Democracy
Section 6: Conservative, Elitist, and Authoritarian Critiques
Introduction
41. Plato
42. Edmund Burke
43. Roger Scruton
44. Benito Mussolini
45. Carl Schmitt
46. Max Weber
47. Robert Michels
48. Giovanni Sartori
49. Joseph A. Schumpeter
Section 7: Marxist and Socialist Critiques
Introduction
50. Karl Marx
51. Karl Marx
52. Vladimir Ilich Lenin
53. Ralph Miliband
54. C. B. Macpherson
Section 8: Feminist Critiques
Introduction
55. Mary Wollstonecraft
56. Diana Coole
57. Sheila Rowbotham
58. Susan Mendus
Part IV: Contemorary Issues
Section 9: The Market
Introduction
59. Friedrich Hayek
60. Allen Buchanan
61. Milton Friedman
62. David Beetham
63. Hilary Wainwright
64. John F. Weeks
65. Wendy Brown
Section 10: Civil Society
Introduction
66. Jean L. Cohen and Andrew Arato
67. Robert D. Putnam
68. Paul Hirst
Section 11: Participation
Introduction
69. Geraint Parry and George Moyser
70. Hanna Fenichel Pitkin and Sara M. Shumer
71. Carole Pateman
72. Tom DeLuca
73. Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson
Section 12: The Internet
Introduction
74. Merlyna Lim and Mark E. Kann
75. Manuel Castells
76. Evgeny Morozov
Section 13: Nationalism
Introduction
77. Ghia Nodia
78. David Miller
79. Erika Harris
80. Craig Calhoun
Section 14: Cosmopolitan Democracy
Introduction
81. Ulrich Beck
82. Luis Cabrera
83. Daniele Archibugi
84. John S. Dryzek
85. Jürgen Habermas
86. Norrie MacQueen
Section 15: Religion
Introduction
87. Asef Bayat
88. Robert W. Hefner
89. Michael Reder and Josef Schmidt
90. Fred Dallmayr
91. John Keane
Section 16: Multiculturalism
Introduction
92. Charles Taylor
93. Will Kymlicka
94. Iris Marion Young
95. Charles W. Mills
Section 17: Democracy and Violence
Introduction
96. Hannah Arendt
97. Michael Mann
98. John Schwarzmantel
99. Zygmunt Bauman
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

This massive new reader on democracy should be part of any university library and, given the decent price of the paperback, also provides a valuable and affordable addition to the private libraries of political scientists…Undoubtedly, the editors have accomplished their main stated objective, i.e. "to bring together as wide a range of material on democracy as can be assembled in one volume" (p.xi).

ECPR - Standing Group on Extremism and Democracy - Cas Mudde

This is arguably the most comprehensive reader on the subject available in English…The book presents an overview, which will be indispensable for the students…this book deserves to be widely used for many years to come.

All the classical thinkers, ancient and modern, are represented, sometimes in more than one section, as well as a fair smattering of contemporary contributors to the current debate.. The collection will provide an effective and relatively painless introduction to students commencing in this area.. A handy preliminary sweep through the most salient areas and arguments, and will undoubtedly prove useful to new students of democratic theory.

This massive new reader on democracy should be part of any university library and, given the decent price of the paperback, also provides a valuable and affordable addition to the private libraries of political scientists…Undoubtedly, the editors have accomplished their main stated objective, i.e. "to bring together as wide a range of material on democracy as can be assembled in one volume" (p.xi).

From the Publisher

All the classical thinkers, ancient and modern, are represented, sometimes in more than one section, as well as a fair smattering of contemporary contributors to the current debate … The collection will provide an effective and relatively painless introduction to students commencing in this area … This volume provides a handy preliminary sweep through the most salient areas and arguments, and will undoubtedly prove useful to new students of democratic theory.

Australasian Journal of Political Science - John Kane

This is arguably the most comprehensive reader on the subject available in English…The book presents an overview, which will be indispensable for the students… [it] deserves to be widely used for many years to come.

Political Studies - Mads H. Qvortrup

Students found this to be very useful and liked the book a great deal."

Karen M Ford

A handy preliminary sweep through the most salient issues and arguments, and will undoubtedly prove useful to new students of democratic theory.

Australian Journal of Political Science

Presenting key texts from Plato through Rousseau's Social Contract and Abraham Lincoln's 'Gettysburg Address' to modern contributions by Benjamin Barber and Milton Friedman, this is arguably the most comprehensive reader on the subject available in English.

Political Studies