Examines how the idea of democracy has kept its power in a world which has changed entirely since the concept was originated in classical Greece, and how the questions which the Greeks first raised about the meaning of democratic rule still loom over human political and economic institutions.

A tour de force of 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.

`A tour de force of 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.' Times Educational Supplement `It is the message of John Dunn's instructive collection that democracy is special ... contains several noteworthy pieces [including] Simon Hornblower's ... elegant account of the creation of democratic institutions in ancient Greece ... Quentin Skinner's ... illuminating interpretation of democratic experiments in the Italian city-republics from the 12th century onwards ... it is as a history of democratic ideology that the book is most worthwhile.' The Times `eminently clear-headed and readable collection.' BBC World Service `We haven't space to do justice to the pleasures of Dunn's collection ...' Stuart Weir and Amanda Dickins, New Statesman and Society `We have come to expect John Dunn to search the past for ideas which may help to illuminate the chances and dangers of the present, and to address such aspects of contemporary experience as we trust will decide the shape of the future. Readers of Democracy ... will find none of their hopes dashed. Professor Dunn has commissioned highly reputed and trustworthy experts to explore the links between the past promises and frustrations of democractic theory and practice, and its present plight and prospects ... go[es] a long way to cataloguing the gains and losses of democratic theory and practice, baring the historical roots of both and discovering what now feeds them.' Zygmunt Bauman, Times Literary Supplement `compulsory reading for those taking part in the "Architecture of Democracy" Symposium currently planned for the RIBA for late spring 1993.' Building Design `the essays are bright, stimulating and of considerable interest to those who want to understand how that fragile concept, democracy, has evolved' Times Educational Supplement `takes the reader on a spectacular voyagge through the life of an idea that matters intensely to all mankind. It brilliantly protrays the transformation of democracy from an unruly and incoherent master to a docile and dependable servant.' Financial Express, New Delhi `a welcome review of the continuities and discontinuities of democratic theory and practice ... With a list of contributors which includes, amongst others, Quention Skinner, Gordon S. Wood, David Wootton, Cynthia Farrar, Susan Mendus and Neil Harding readers will know that they are in safe hands. That such authors do what is expected of them is, of course, merely to say that they do it very well ... Students of democracy will, it should be clear, find much to reflect upon in these essays. They will be assisted by very useful bibliographies, especially for the earlier periods.' Government and Opposition `It would be an excellent political science reader or useful reading for students of law, government, or diplomacy in need of a detailed analysis of this institution ... The editor's comprehensive and provocative conclusion summarizes underlying standards and expectations about the content of the institution of democracy.' American Society of International Law `This collection should be compulsory reading in every sixth-form and not only for students of A Level General Studies' Greece and Rome