I rate books such as 'On Democracy' not only by the quality of information (which Dahl establishes so well), but also (and primarily) by the parsimony of its content. Dahl does this so well. So does Shapiro.

comprehensive book

Tot i la senzilla i entretinguda lectura i la seva pràctica aplicació, mostra poques justificacions o poc aquestes estan poc fonamentades a varies qüestions que presenta com la relació entre una societat sanament democràtica i l'economia de mercat.

In 2011, every citizen of every country involved in the Arab Spring should have received a free copy of this book. Although I found it difficult to get into in the beginning, where the history of democracy was described, I found the book incredibly enlightning and easy to read. The reader does need to concentrate, though. Although it is not a purely academic book with long references and many political words with specific meaning, it is also complex to understand the intricacies of the subject matter.

It does however explain how certain western democracies work and how they came about, as well as giving the reader insight into why today's 'new democracies' will have huge problems to begin with becuase they have not met the conditions (for instance, having a well informed citizenry who understand the political choices they make).

Dahl has structured the work very well, talking about the conditions which have to be met for an ideal democracy to exist (I cannot think of a single country which has met them all), the advantages and disadvantages of democracy, and things that favrou and hinder democracy. There are even interesting appendices on electoral systems, and why there are so many different ones.

In all, well written and accessible, very well structured, and a great introduction to everything the 'common man' needs to know about the subject.

This should be a mandatory school reading. Dahl himself only briefly touched the topic of civic education but I think that’s exactly what we need to make sure extreme movements praying on uneducated and undereducated are not destroying our way of life. We need to make sure people understand what democracy is and what it is not and “On Democracy” is the perfect first read. In the world where social media posts make the limit of attention span and create simplified world of simpletons we should start looking into educating our children to make sure they live in a democratic future.

so dry….

"...popular governments have sometimes acted unjustly or cruelly toward people outside their borders, people living in other states-foreigners, colonials, and so on. In this respect popular governments have behaved no worse toward outsiders than nondemocratic governments, and often they have behaved better." [P,47]

Denial and one both side opinion from the "popular governments" side of view.

Interesante si quieres aprender sobre el origen, teoría y creencias sobre la democracia y la creación de los estados tal y como los conocemos actualmente.

Dahl ci introduce in un viaggio sulla democrazia in tutte le sue sfaccettature, nella sua evoluzione storia e nell’analisi dei suoi pregi e difetti. Ottimo per approcciarsi per la prima volta all’ambito della Scienza Politica. Molto ultimi, sebbene un po’ datati, i suggerimenti bibliografici alla fine del libro.

The teacher that assigned this book called it “The Folk Theory of Democracy” and I think that sums this up well. It helped to frame how we’ve gotten to where we are “today” with democracy, but it seems to be very set in the 1990s when it was published by a white man (“diversity is the death of democracy” (paraphrasing, but barely) i.e). Still, I do appreciate the framework of democracy and the institutions that hold it up, as well as the exploration into some of the benefits.

Solid.

A really good, quick and fun read about some of the basics of democracy. A great starter for the study of our governments.