Democracy Third Edition

The revised and updated edition of this survey takes account of the very different global context in which any discussion of democracy must now take place, including the mighty power of the multinationals vis-a-vis elected governments, the resurgence of the idea of an Islamic alternative to the Western democratic ideal, and the suggestion that unelected but powerful international bodies are effectively eroding the authority of the democratic state. Anthony Arblaster looks first at the history of both the theory and practice of democracy, and the fierce opposition it has often provoked, showing how the representative version of democracy we are now familiar with was a relatively late arrival on the scene. He finds the core of the idea of democracy in the notion of popular power, and in the second part of the book he explores the meaning of this and the problems it involves.

Author Biography

Anthony Arblaster recently retired as Reader in Politics at the University of Sheffield, where he had taught since 1970. He was previously a journalist on the staff of Tribune. He is the author of The Rise and Decline of Wesern Liberalism and Viva la Liberta!, a study of politics in opera.