• Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Rethinking the Value of Democracy: A Comparative Perspective

Rethinking the Value of Democracy: A Comparative Perspective

Hardcover

Series: Theories, Concepts and Practices of Democracy

General Political Science

ISBN10: 3319916556
ISBN13: 9783319916552
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: Aug 2 2018
Pages: 266
Weight: 1.06
Height: 0.69 Width: 5.83 Depth: 8.27
Language: English

This book is the first comprehensive analysis of the instrumental value of democracy in a comparative perspective. Based on extensive analyses of quantitative studies from different disciplines, it explores both the expected beneficial and harmful impact of democracy. Democracy's reputation as delivering peace and development while controlling corruption is an important source of its own legitimacy. Yet, as this book acutely demonstrates, the arguments tend to be normatively driven interventions in ideologically charged policy debates. The book argues that we need neither a utopian framing of democracy as delivering all 'good things' in politics nor a cynical one that emphasizes only the 'dangerous underbelly' of this form of government. The author also raises critical questions about the value of the study of democracy: the choice for particular concepts and measures, the unknown mechanisms, and the narrow focus on specific instrumental values. This volume will be necessary reading for anyone interested in debates on democracy in the contemporary global context.

Also in

General Political Science