Democracy For Beginners
Published on 12. September 2025
130 pages
978-1-939994-04-2 (ISBN)
Description
With all the talk about "democracy" these days, it's surprising how little time is spent concentrating on the concept of democracy itself, its history and justification as a form of political governance.Democracy for Beginnerslooks at democracy's rich evolution in its varied forms, and at some of the challenges democracies face today.Beginning with the rise of democracy in fifth-century Athens and ending with an exploration of what the future might hold - for example the notion of "e-democracy"-Democracy for Beginnersis an important resource for understanding the foundation on which our country stands. Readers will become familiar with ideas advanced by democracy's advocates and architects, and by its critics, from Plato to contemporary social choice theoreticians.Democracy for Beginnersis the perfect introduction to the United States of America's founding principles.
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Persons
Robert Cavalierreceived his BA from New York University and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Duquesne University. In 1987 he joined the staff at Carnegie Mellon's Center for Design of Educational Computing, where he became Executive Director in 1991. Dr. Cavalier was Director of CMU's Center for the Advancement of Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy from 2005-2007. He is currently co-Director of Southwestern Pennsylvania Program for Deliberative Democracy.Reuben Negrónis a visual artist who works across many fields. He is a regular contributor to the comic book anthology,Rabid Rabbit. His work has been published internationally in novels, periodicals and annuals, includingPlayboy, Communication Arts, andSpectrum. As a fine artist, Reuben's work has been exhibited domestically as well as abroad. He holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. He currently lives and works in New York City.
Content
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- First Page
- Preface: Understanding Democracy
- In the Beginning
- A Word About Virtue
- Islamic Perspectives
- Consequences of the Natural Law Theory of Aquinas
- Reformation
- Hobbes, Locke and The Negative Liberal Tradition
- The American Revolt Against King George
- The Rights of Man
- Property and Commerce
- Writing the Constitution
- The Federalist Papers
- Original Intent?
- Themes of the Ancients and the Moderns
- Party Politics
- Themes from the British Utilitarians
- A Rational Foundation for Democracy
- The Concepts and Problems of Democracy
- Democracy As A Decision Procedure
- Social Choice Critiques of Democracy
- Political Frameworks: The Liberty/Equality Equation
- Political Frameworks: The Progressives
- Political Frameworks: The Libertarians
- Political Frameworks: The Communitarians
- Fact of Pluralism
- Two Models of Democracy: Thin and Strong
- The Market
- The Forum
- Jürgen Habermas
- Open and Informed" Conversations
- Citizenship Theory
- Reflective Equilibrium
- Civic Virtues
- Strong Democracy and Citizen Forums
- Applying Deliberative Democracy
- Envisioning A Strong Democracy
- Combining Lukensmeyer and Fishkin
- Community Conversations: Bringing Deliberative Democracy to the Neighborhood
- E-Democracy: The Early Days
- E-Democracy Takes Hold
- Transnational Democracy
- Twenty Global Problems and Twenty Years to Solve Them. . .
- One Example: Climate Change
- Conclusion
- Credits
- Sources
- Resources
- About the Author & illustrator:
- Last Page
- THE FOR BEGINNERS® SERIES
- Insert
