Democracy The Unfinished Journey, 508 BC to AD 1993 [Paperback]

The form of democracy first introduced 2,500 years ago by Kleisthenes--introduced, some scholars say, for his own personal gain--is quite different from what we call democracy today. And yet what was essentially a casual, practical solution to local Greek political difficulties has come to stand virtually unchallenged as the ground for modern political authority, and the questions which the Greeks first raised about the meaning of democratic rule still loom over our political and economic life. InDemocracy, noted author John Dunn and twelve expert contributors trace the extraordinary political career of democracy from its appearance in ancient Greece to its recent resurrection in Eastern Europe. As the recent collapse of socialism demonstrates, the idea of democracy still holds a powerful attraction for us. By viewing its astonishing history across this great arc of time, the book shows why democracy today has both the power and the vulnerability which make it the key to understanding politics, and explains why it has triumphed so decisively in the modern world.

An excellent political science reader or useful reading for students of law, government, or diplomacy in need of a detailed analysis of this institution. --American Society of International Law Newsletter

Atour de forceof description and analysis, taking the reader from ancient Greece to Tiananmen Square and the present disintegration of federal Yugoslavia...the essays are bright, stimulating and of considerable interest to those who want to understand how that fragile concept, democracy, had evolved...an enlightened route map of the progress so far. --The Times Higher Education Supplement

It is the message of John Dunn's instructive collection that democracyisspecial...contains several noteworthy pieces [including] Simon Hornblower's...elegant account of the creation of democratic institutions in ancient Greece...Quentin Skinner's...l³