Models of Democracy

The first two editions of Models of Democracy have proven immensely popular among students and specialists worldwide. In a succinct and far-reaching analysis, David Held provides an introduction to central accounts of democracy from classical Greece to the present and a critical discussion of what democracy should mean today. This new edition has been extensively revised and updated to take account of significant transformations in world politics, and a new chapter has been added on deliberative democracy which focuses not only on how citizen participation can be increased in politics, but also on how that participation can become more informed. Like its predecessor, the third edition of Models of Democracy combines lucid exposition and clarity of expression with careful scholarship and originality, making it highly attractive to students and experts in the field. The third edition will prove essential reading for all those interested in politics, political theory and political philosophy. A companion website to Models of Democracy provides lecturer and student resources; including a study guide, an interview with the author and links to develop the reader's understanding of the topics covered.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables Preface Introduction Part One: Classic Models Chapter 1 - Classical Democracy: Athens Political ideas and aims Institutional features The exclusivity of an ancient democracy The critics In sum: Model I Chapter 2 - Republicanism: Liberty, Self-Government and the Active Citizen The eclipse and re-emergence of homo politicus The reforging of republicanism Republicanism, elective government and popular sovereignty From civic life to civic glory In sum: Model IIa The republic and the general will In sum: model IIb The public and the private Chapter 3 - The Development of Liberal Democracy: For and Against the State Power and Sovereignty Citizenship and the Constitutional State Separation of Powers The problem of factions Accountability and Markets In sum: model IIIa Liberty and the development of democracy The dangers of despotic power and an overgrown state Representative government The subordination of women Competing conceptions of the ‘ends of government’ In sum: Model IIIb Chapter 4 - Direct Democracy and the End of Politics Class and class conflict History as evolution and the development of captialism Two theories of the state The end of politics Competing conceptions of Marxism Part Two: Variants from the Twentieth Century Chapter 5 - Competitive ELitism and the Technocratic Vision Classes, power and conflict Bureaucracy, parliaments and nation-states Competitive elitist democracy Liberal democracy at the crossroads The last vestige of democracy? Democracy, capitalism and socialism ‘Classical’ v. modern democracy A technocratic vision In sum: model V Chapter 6 - Pluralism, Corporate Capitalism and the State Group politics, government and power Politics, consensus and the distribution of power Democracy, corporate capitalism and the state In sum: Model VI Accumulation, legitimation and the restricted sphere of the political The changing form of representative institutions Chapter 7 - From Post-War Stability to Political Crisis: The Polarization of Political Ideas A legitimate democratic order or a repressive regime? Overloaded state or legitimation crisis? Crisis theories: an assessment Law, liberty and democracy In sum: model VII Participation, liberty and democracy In sum: model VII Chapter 8 - Democracy after Soviet Communism The historical backdrop The triumph of economic and political liberalism The renewed necessity of Marxism and democracy from ‘below’? Chapter 9 - Deliberative Democracy and the Defence of the Public Realm Reason and Participation The limits of democratic theory The aims of deliberative democracy What is sound about public reasoning? Impartialism and it’s critics Institutions of deliberative democracy Value pluralism and democracy In sum: Model IX Part Three: What Should Democracy Mean Today? Chapter 10 - Democratic Autonomy The appeal of democracy The principle of autonomy Enacting the principle The heritage of classic and twentieth-century democratic theory Democracy: A double-sided process Democratic autonomy: compatibilities and incompatibilities In sum: Model Xa Chapter 11 - Democracy, the Nation-State and the Global System Democratic legitimacy and borders Regional and global flows: old and new Sovereignty, autonomy and disjunctures Rethinking democracy for a more global age: the cosmopolitan model In sum: model Xb Acknowledgements References and Select Bibliography Index

About the Author :
David Held is Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Review :
"The great global struggles today are not over democracy versus other forms of government but over the meanings and practices of democracy themselves. There is no better critical and engaged survey of the complex histories and contemporary struggles over this deeply contested concept than David Held's third and improved edition of Models of Democracy, precisely because it is written in awareness of its own contestability." James Tully, University of Victoria "Models is the kind of established classic which both demands and merits revision every decade or so." David Beetham, University of Leeds "Everyone who has used Models will welcome this new edition. Newcomers will find a wide-ranging and reliable analysis of past and present debates about democracy and gain an understanding of what is at issue in current global arguments." Carole Pateman, Cardiff University and University of California at Los Angeles