Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age

Since its appearance twenty years ago, Benjamin R. Barber's Strong Democracy has been one of the primary standards against which political science thinking and writing is measured. Defined as the participation of all of the people in at least some aspects of self-government at least some of the time, Strong Democracy offers liberal society a new way of thinking about and of practicing democracy. Contrary to the commonly held view that an excess of democracy can undo liberal institutions, Barber argues that an excess of liberalism has undermined our democratic institutions and brought about the set of crises we still find ourselves struggling against: cynicism about voting, alienation, privatization, and the growing paralysis of public institutions. In a new preface Barber looks at the past twenty years and restates his argument, which seems, sadly, more pressing than ever.

Table of Contents:
Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition Acknowledgments Preface to the 1990 Edition Preface to the 1984 Edition Part I. Thin Democracy: The Argument Against Liberalism 1. Thin Democracy: Politics as Zookeeping 2. The Preconceptual Frame: Newtonian Politics 3. The Epistemological Frame: Cartesian Politics 4. The Psychological Frame: Apolitical Man 5. Thin Democracy in the Twentieth Century: The Potential for Pathology Part II. Strong Democracy: The Argument for Citizenship 6. Strong Democracy: Politics as a Way of Living 7. A Conceptual Frame: Politics in the Participatory Mode 8. Citizenship and Participation: Politics as Epistemology 9. Citizenship and Community: Politics as Social Being 10. The Real Present: Institutionalizing Strong Democracy in the Modern World Index

About the Author :
Benjamin R. Barber is Kekst Professor of Civil Society at the University of Maryland and Director of the New York office of The Democracy Collaborative. He is the author of Fear's Empire: Terrorism, War and Democracy (2003) and Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World (1995).

Review :
"[Barber] seeks to give the participatory ideal new institutional and intellectual vigor. . . .His distinctive contribution is not to develop a legislative package but to sketch a way of looking at politics from which a stronger democratic practice might emerge. . . .His approach is original and provocative."--"New York Times"