The Democracy Reader

This timely anthology gathers forty historical and contemporary readings edited for accessibility. Short introductions precede each reading and a general introduction increase student comprehension across the spectrum of readings. The volume is ideal for all levels of students in civics, political theory, and philosophy courses.

Democracies put political power in the hands of the people. But why should people have a say in the operations of the states that govern them? Are democratic states preferable to non-democratic states? If so, is there something intrinsically good about democracy, or does it merely serve an instrumental role? By what procedures should citizens’ votes be counted? How do we keep the voices of the ignorant from drowning out those of the wise? These, as well as other related questions, are explored in this timely anthology of forty historical and contemporary readings.

Short introductions preceding each reading and a general introduction increase student comprehension across the spectrum of readings. With each reading edited for length and accessibility, this volume is ideal for both the undergraduate and graduate students in political theory and philosophy courses.

Preface

Introduction by Robert B. Talisse

PART ONE: CLASSIC SOURCES

1. Pericles: Funeral Oration
2. Plato: Crito
3. Plato: Republic
4. Aristotle: Politics
5. Mencius: The Works of Mencius
6. Niccolò Machiavelli: Discourses
7. Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan
8. Baruch Spinoza: Theologico-Political Treatise
9. John Locke: Second Treatise of Government
10. John Locke: Letter Concerning Toleration
11. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Of the Social Contract
12. Edmund Burke: Speech to the Electors of Bristol
13. The Declaration of Independence
14. The Constitution of the United States
15. Alexander Hamilton and James Madison: The Federalist Papers #10, #51, and #70
16. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
17. Alexis De Tocqueville: Democracy in America
18. Karl Marx: Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
19. Frederick Douglass: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
20. Abraham Lincoln: Gettysburg Address
21. Abraham Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address
22. John Stuart Mill: On Liberty
23. John Stuart Mill: Considerations on Representative Government
24. Elizabeth Cady Stanton: The Solitude of Self
25. W. E. B. Dubois: Of the Ruling of Men
26. John Dewey: Democracy
27. John Rawls: The Idea of Public Reason Revisited

PART TWO: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

A. Justification

28. Richard Arneson: Democracy is Not Intrinsically Just
29. Elizabeth Anderson: Democracy: Instrumental Vs. Non-Instrumental Value

B. Deliberation

30. Seyla Benhabib: Toward a Deliberative Model of Democratic Legitimacy
31. David Estlund: The Epistemic Dimension of Democratic Authority

C. Voting

32. Jason Brennan: Polluting The Polls: When Citizens Should Not Vote
33. Julia Maskivker: Being a Good Samaritan Requires You to Vote

D. Challenges

34. Iris Marion Young: Activist Challenges to Deliberative Democracy
35. Robert B. Talisse: Polarization and Democratic Citizenship