One hundred and fifty years ago, Abraham Lincoln stressed the pressing need for a new definition of "freedom." Today, with 85 of some 190 countries claiming to be representative democracies, José Nun makes an equally compelling case for "democracy." In emerging democracies throughout much of the developing world, the need is especially urgent, as nascent debates about democracy are modified by such descriptions as delegative, transitional, incomplete, low-intensity, relative, uncertain, or even authoritarian. In accessible and engaging style, Nun provides a comprehensive analysis of the theory and practice of democracy from ancient Greece to contemporary Latin America. The author's authoritative historical and comparative discussion of democracy is combined with his own evaluation of the conditions and possibilities for the development of genuinely democratic societies in our time, in Latin America and throughout the world. The author identifies the preconditions of a democratic regime, the links between citizenship construction and social rights, the centrality of work for the promotion of equality and freedom, and the current democratic deficits both in core and peripheral countries. All readers will benefit from Nun's insightful distinction between two visions of democracy-government of the people or government of the politicians-and its profound consequences.
Autorentext
By José Nun
Inhalt
Chapter 1 Preface
Part 2 Introduction
Part 3 Family Resemblances
Part 4 Athens and Sparta
Part 5 Schumpeter and the Politicians
Part 6 The Pluralist Theories
Part 7 The Declaration of 1948
Part 8 Capitalism and Democracy: A First Approach
Part 9 The Keynesian Alchemy
Part 10 Marshall and the Citizens
Part 11 From Schumpeter to Marshall
Part 12 The Experience in the Developed Capitalist Countries
Part 13 European Transitions to Democracy
Part 14 Capitalism and Democracy: A Second Approach
Part 15 Legitimacy, Moral Autonomy, and Preferences
Part 16 From the Thirty Glorious Years to the Great Recession
Part 17 Welfare States in Transition
Part 18 The Problem of Social Exclusion
Part 19 The Latin American Case
Part 20 An Unhappy Balance
Part 21 An Idea and Its Concrete Manifestations
Part 22 Conditional Democracy
Part 23 Deceiving Resemblances
Part 24 Epilogue