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Introduces democratic governments, discussing the social, political, economic, religious, and cultural effects, and examining various contemporary democracies from around the world.

Democracy, Charles Tilly, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. xi, 227.The ideal of democracy is rarely challenged openly in the contemporary world, yet it remains one of the social science's essentially contested concepts. Despite a large and growing literature on the topic, there is little consensus on how we are to decide when a particular regime qualifies as a democracy or not. In his ambitious and forceful new book, Charles Tilly argues that this lack of a clear and accurate definition of democracy is of considerable consequence. Lucid explanations of democratization, political standing of regimes, related foreign policy decisions and the quality of people's lives are all at stake. Tilly devotes his first chapter to building a working definition of democracy before putting forward a cogent explanatory framework for understanding how and why democracies emerge and why they sometimes disappear and to demonstrate what difference it makes.

The article summarizes core findings of the Danish Democracy and Power Study (1998-2003) regarding changes in democratic governance and discusses whether they contribute to a decline or a modernization of democracy. It is argued that changes should not be evaluated by standards that are too strongly linked to the institutional structure of the past, that accountability should not be over-emphasized as a criterion of democracy, and that one should look for functional equivalents. The constraints of globalization for national politics, especially for welfare policies, are called into doubt, and it is pointed out that even the impact of the European Union (EU) is limited in many core policy areas. The EU may enhance the capacity of politics against markets, but a core problem is a democratic deficit in public debates and participation. Turning to national politics, however, we find equivalent democratic deficits in political decision-making processes. Empowerment of citizens is high, but there is a deficit of participation in input side politics beyond elections, and problems with the linkages between the people and their political leaders. However, new structures of mass elite communication have developed which at least have contributed to responsive governance and widespread political trust.

The article summarizes core findings of the Danish Democracy & Power Study (1998-2003) regarding changes in democratic governance & discusses whether they contribute to a decline or a modernization of democracy. It is argued that changes should not be evaluated by standards that are too strongly linked to the institutional structure of the past, that accountability should not be over-emphasized as a criterion of democracy, & that one should look for functional equivalents. The constraints of globalization for national politics, especially for welfare policies, are called into doubt, & it is pointed out that even the impact of the European Union (EU) is limited in many core policy areas. The EU may enhance the capacity of politics against markets, but a core problem is a democratic deficit in public debates & participation. Turning to national politics, however, we find equivalent democratic deficits in political decision-making processes. Empowerment of citizens is high, but there is a deficit of participation in input side politics beyond elections, & problems with the linkages between the people & their political leaders. However, new structures of mass elite communication have developed which at least have contributed to responsive governance & widespread political trust. References. Adapted from the source document.

It is sometimes assumed that voting is the central mechanism for political decision-making. The contributors to this volume focus on an alternative mechanism, that is decision by discussion or deliberation. The original contributions include case studies based on historical and current instances of deliberative democracy, normative discussion of the merits of deliberation compared to other models of collective decision-making, and studies of the conditions under which it tends to improve the quality of decisions. This volume is characterized by a realistic approach to the issue of deliberative democracy. Rather than assuming that deliberative democracy is always ideal, the authors critically probe its limits and weaknesses as well as its strengths