Thomas Christiano

This is a comprehensive book on the theoretical problems of democratic politics. I particularly liked its emphasis on questions of representation and political knowledge, two subjects which I have not seen discussed together in any other work. The author emphasizes the critical role of political parties and interest groups as initiators of political deliberation. In his conception of democracy the people should choose the aims of society after deliberating on them, while the role of representatives is to choose the best means and compromises for obtaining these aims.

What bothered me a bit was that the general framework of the argument seemed a bit diffuse at times and the end was very abrupt. The author presents equality as the foundation of democracy in chapter 2, but I think many of the subjects he discusses don't relate all that closely to questions of equality. It seemed to me that a broader prefatory analysis of democracy could have paid more dividends towards the end. Nevertheless I highly recommend this book to democratic theorists and I will certainly read it again in the future.… (altro)