Written by the preeminent democratic theorist of our time, this book explains the nature, value, and mechanics of democracy. This new edition includes two additional chapters by Ian Shapiro, Dahl's successor as Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale and a leading contemporary authority on d[...]

Robert Dahl's "Preface "helped launch democratic theory fifty years ago as a new area of study in political science, and it remains the standard introduction to the field. Exploring problems that had been left unsolved by traditional thought on democracy, Dahl here examines two influential models--t[...]

In this book, one of the most prominent political theorists of our era makes a statement about what democracy is and why it is important. Robert Dahl examines the most basic assumptions of democratic theory, tests them against the questions raised by its critics, and recasts the theory of democracy [...]

The last half of the 20th century has been an era of democratic triumph. The main anti-democratic regimes - communist, fascist, Nazi - have disappeared, and new democracies are emerging vigorously or tentatively throughout the world. In this book, one of the most prominent political theorists of our[...]

Tocqueville pessimistically predicted that liberty and equality would be incompatible ideas. Robert Dahl, author of the classic "A Preface to Democratic Theory", explores this alleged conflict, particularly in modern American society where differences in ownership and control of corporate enterprise[...]