On Democracy

The clearest short account of what democracy actually requires, stripped of slogan, by the theorist who spent a career on the question. Dahl sets out the conditions self-government depends on and the hard tradeoffs it involves, and distinguishes the real, imperfect democracies that exist from the ideal that does not. If you want one book that explains, plainly, what we mean by the word and what it asks of a people, this is it.

The political scientist who spent a career defining what democracy actually requires, stripped of slogan. On Democracy is his clearest short statement: the conditions, the institutions, and the hard tradeoffs that self-government depends on. He coined polyarchy for the real, imperfect democracies that exist, as against the ideal that does not, and insisted on measuring the distance between them.