The concepts and theories of modern democracy [antikvár]

Chapter 1IntroductionThis is a book about the concepts and theories that are invoked when people discuss politics and government in modern democracies. It examines a variety of theories, both analytical and evaluative, and approaches them by analysing some basic politicai concepts because ideas about politics can only be expressed by using concepts.A concept is deiined by the Oxford English Dictionary as 'an idea of a class of objects, a general notion or idea', and by Webster's Dictionary as 'an abstract or generic idea generalized from particular instances'. A politicai concept is an abstract idea about politics and people who discuss politicai matters use politicai concepts ali the time. They cannot avoid doing so, because, as a British philosopher has said, 'our idea of what belongs to the realm of reality is given for us in the language that we use. The concepts that we have settle for us the forms of the experience we have of the world' (Winch 1958: 15). An American politicai theorist has said much the same with particular reference to politics, observing that in politicai life 'our language is not just a neutral medium from some independent reality but instead is partly constitutive of that reality' (Herzog 1991: 141).The problem for ali those who observe, study or participate in politics (and in modern societies that means most people) is that many politicai concepts are ambiguous, value-laden and subject to more than one meaning or interpretation. The object of this book is to examine some of the basic concepts of modern politics so as to clarify their meaning or meanings, to indicate the implications of using them in one sense rather than another, and to discuss their utility in politicai analysis.In the course of doing this various familiar theoretical controversies will be thrown into a new light and examined from a relatively detached viewpoint. These include controversies about the power of the national state, the bases of politicai authority within the state, the nature of democratie ideals, the relationships between economie and politicai power, the case for extending popular participation in government, and the nature of minority rights. Because students of politics have varied widely in their