Innovative essays that survey democracy through the history of political thought.
In recent years, democratic theorists have argued that democracy and democratic institutions are receding in many parts of the world, including in the United States. Unfortunately, much of the recent discussion has abstracted from the long history of political theory about democracy. Democracy and Its Pathologies features original essays from top scholars who survey the history of democratic thought, from Herodotus and Plato through Tocqueville and Nietzsche. These essays complicate our understanding of how the past viewed democracy, challenging the standard view that before the nineteenth century, theorists were entirely critical of democracy as "mob rule." In addition, the essays provide valuable resources for thinking through our current democratic malaises.
