On democracy

by Robert Alan Dahl

What is really meant by the term ""democracy""? How did democracy come about? What characteristics must a polity possess in order to be properly dubbed democratic? What is the relationship between capitalism and democracy? What are some challenges facing democracies in the 21st century? In this thorough but concise handbook by one of America's foremost political scientists, Yale professor Dahl (Democracy and Its Critics) answers these and other questions. The book is a highly structured work organized around subtopics on the origins of democracy, the democratic idea, actual democracies and conditions that favor or impede the development of democracy. Dahl discusses the tension between citizen participation and system effectiveness, the relative strengths and weaknesses of presidential versus parliamentary systems. Some of the best sections address the tension that exists in societies (e.g., the U.S.) where a democratic system based on political equality coexists with market capitalism,