Democracy Paradox

Legal scholars have written some of the best scholarship on democracy in recent years. Rosalind Dixon, Tom Ginsburg and David Landau are among the most creative and insightful minds among scholars of democratic governance. Their articles are not limited to American jurisprudence but analyze the role of the courts within different countries where legal traditions…

EVERETT, Wash. (Sept. 14, 2012) Newly-pinned chief petty officers salute during a chief petty officer pinning ceremony in the Grand Vista Ballroom at Naval Station Everett. The Naval Station welcomed 24 newly pinned Sailors to the rank of chief petty officer during the ceremony. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jeffry Willadsen/Released)…

There was a dark side to the democracy of ancient Athens. The sophists were not simply philosophers but also the educators of their time. They exploited the dynamics of the open assembly to teach an empty form of rhetoric without the need for substance as the foundation for their arguments. Indeed, its students learned how…

Theorists largely agree there is a strong connection between politics and economics. The economics of inequality have long drawn similarities to the democratic idea of political equality. Robert Dahl believed an emphasis on economic democracy was necessary to move beyond polyarchy. C. B. MacPherson also found the economic inequalities found in Western Democracies inconsistent with…

The basic meaning of democracy for Roslyn Fuller is not theoretical. She has a visceral attachment to its value and importance which she feels is embedded within the Western cultural tradition. Its meaning is therefore both evident and apparent. Yet she is not a conservative. She senses deep issues within the current framework of democratic…

Francis Fukuyama’s fourth book seems out of place. It does not neatly fit into the canon of political science. Fukuyama admits as much. His preface reads like something between an apology and an explanation. His first words read, “Writing a book on biotechnology might seem to be quite a leap for someone who in recent…

It took me just three days to read Cas Mudde’s Far Right Today. It is a short book which numbers just 180 pages before the notes begin. Yet it feels longer but not in a bad way. It feels as though Mudde has offered an extended seminar on far right politics. He breaks down the…

I grew up outside the two-party system in the United States. As early as sixth grade, I rejected both political parties so I could support a third-party presidential candidate. Like most children, I followed my father’s direction who struggled with his own political identification. But for over a decade a large part of my identity…

Larry Diamond is the intellectual conscience of democracy scholarship. Perhaps this assessment is unfair. He is among the great intellectual minds among scholars of democracy living today. Yet his legacy is not necessarily theoretical but rather moral. He has challenged leaders around the world to live up to the standards of liberal democracy. Writing in…

Francis Fukuyama established his reputation with the publication The End of History and the Last Man, but it is his two-volume work on political order which is his masterpiece. It is this work which realizes ambitions which were implied but never attempted in his earlier writings. And both its achievements and flaws originate from his…