Democracy as the Political Empowerment of the People: The Betrayal of an Ideal

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Lexington Books, 2005 - 226 Seiten
Democracy as the Political Empowerment of the People: The Betrayal of an Ideal argues that the conception of democracy that prevails in the general consciousness of the contemporary world is a distorted version of the 'original' idea of democracy. An important component of democracy in its original formulation was the ideal of the citizens' direct participation in the legislative and political decision-making process, yet modern representative governments frequently disregard this fundamental component. While often justified by claims of impracticality, Majid Behrouzi sets up the case for a return to the ideal of direct democracy. Offering a short conceptual history of the idea of democracy, this book aims to provide an account of the efforts and the relevant historical and theoretical developments that have contributed to the 'perversion' of the original idea of democracy, ultimately retrieving the idea of the direct, deliberative, and equal participation of all citizens in political decision-making. Together with its companion volume, Democracy as the Political Empowerment of the Citizen: Direct-Deliberative e-Democracy, this book is essential to scholars interested in the evolution of modern democracy and the future of politics.

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Inhalt

The Original Idea of Democracy
9
Macpherson and the Idea of Democracy as a Class Affair
19
Rousseau and the Idea of the Sovereignty of the General Will
31
The Marxian Idea of Democracy The Ideal and the Real
47
Bolshevism and the Idea of Proletarian Democracy
55
Concluding Remarks to Part I
67
The Case of the Liberal State and Liberal Democracy
73
Liberalism and the Rise of the Liberal State
75
Concluding Remarks to Part II
145
The Case of the Late Liberal Democracy
147
The Late LiberalDemocratic State Crisis of Representative Democracy
149
Theories of Participatory Democracy
165
Theories of Deliberative Democracy
175
Concluding Remarks to Part III
191
Conclusion
195
Selected Bibliography
199

The Liberal State and the Idea of Representative Government
81
The Rise of the LiberalDemocratic State
101
Schumpeter and the LiberalDemocratic Conception of Democracy
119
Justifying Representative Government
137
Index
217
About the Author
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Autoren-Profil (2005)

Majid Behrouzi holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from York University, Canada. In addition to philosophy, he has also studied mathematics and engineering and holds advanced degrees in these fields. He currently teaches mathematics and philosophy in Cleveland.

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