Leading writers examine a central concept in politics
John Dunn is the author of Locke (Past Masters) which has sold over 15,000 copies.
`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
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