Vital Democracy: A Theory of Democracy in Action

by Frank Hendriks

Overview

Vital Democracy outlines a theory of democracy in action, based on four elementary forms of democracy—pendulum, consensus, voter and participatory democracy—that are thoroughly analyzed, compared and related to both the literature and the real world of democracy. Just like a few primary colors produce an array of shades, a few basic models of democracy appear, the author argues, to constitute a wide range of democratic variants in real life.

Focusing on tried and tested democratic institutions, Frank Hendriks shows that the four models of democracy—with their divergent patterns of leadership, citizenship and governance, their inherent strengths and weaknesses—are never purely instantiated. He argues that wherever democracy is practiced with some level of success, it is always as hybrid democracy, thereby challenging those democratic reformers and theorists that have inspired the quest for democratic purity.

Vital Democracy builds on Arend Lijphart's well-known work which distinguishes between majoritarian and consensual democratic countries but also goes well beyond it, urging attention to non-national, non-formal, and non-representative expressions of democracy as well.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199572786
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/06/2010
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Frank Hendriks is Professor of Comparative Governance at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. He deals with cross-border comparison of policies and governance systems, including the comparative analysis of democratic and decisionmaking models at the national and the subnational level.

Table of Contents

List of Figures vii

List of Boxes ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgements xv

Opening Debate 1

Part I Concepts 15

1 Plural Democracy 17

2 Layered Democracy 31

Part II Practices 47

3 Pendulum Democracy 49

4 Consensus Democracy 66

5 Voter Democracy 86

6 Participatory Democracy 107

Part III Lessons 133

7 Mixing Democracy 135

8 Reforming Democracy 157

Closing Debate 178

Notes 189

Bibliography 219

Index 235