THE THEORY OF DEMOCRACY REVISITED
Volume 1: The Contemporary Debate
Volume 2: The Classical Issues
Giovanni Sartori
Chatham House (1987)

"Answering the question What is democracy? amounts to giving a definition of the word democracy. The next question is: What is a definition?....

...Remember, in particular, that 'there is a special connection between politics and the debasement of language,' for in politics more than in any other realm language is less an instrument for expressing thought than a means 'for concealing or preventing thought.' The special difficulty that the student of politics encounters is, thus, that in his subject matter it is indeed 'useful' to becloud problems. Indeed, an important part of politics—and not necessarily its wicked part—may be described as the art of fudging political issues....Thus, if definitions are nothing but arbitrary stipulations subjected to the sole condition that they should be useful in some stipulated (i.e. arbitrary) sense of the term, then the conclusion must follow that democracy means whatever appears useful from the stipulator's viewpoint. But this is a conclusion that I am not prepared to underwrite....

...Democracy means eastward what autocracy means to the West, and vice versa. It this conclusion acceptable? If it is, then there can be no democratic theory. Indeed, if this is the argument, then it is useless to think....

...What is the truth value of definitions of democracy? No theory of democracy has a basis on which to stand unless this question is settled...." Giovanni Sartori, Theory of Democracy Revisited: Vol. 2, Part Two: The Classical Issues (1987), Chapter 9, "What Is Democracy? Definition, Proof, and Preference," 9.1 Are Definitions Arbitrary?, pp. 257–259

BOOK REVIEWS
Jean Bethke Eishtain, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"Democracy is, in part, a debate about what democracy is. With The Theory of Democracy Revisted, Sartori offers an overview of classical and contemporary issues. All students of politics will find his arguments provocative, whether or not they agree with his conclusions."

LIBRARY JOURNAL–Steven Puro, Political Science Dept., St. Louis University
"The author of the classic Democratic Theory (1962) here argues that the ideas, words, and symbols of politics in the 1960s through the 1980s have led to new theories of democracy. He presents a philosophical analysis intended to rebuild mainstream democratic theory. To do this he dissects the values and ideas underlying a large-scale democracy. In part 1 he contrasts present-day theories of democracy with theories of the 1950s; in part 2 he considers themes from ancient Greece. Sartori provides an excellent analysis of the fabric of democracy. He emphasizes that this fabric must be understood to have viable, continuing democracies...."

William T. Bluhm, The University of Rochester
"...[Sartori] reviews the major democratic theories of our time and canvasses astutely the salient issues among them. Sartori synthesizes a theory of his own which he proffers as a new mainstream view to his readers. His trenchant and swift-moving argument moves deftly among competing schools of thought. The book's greatest strength lies in Sartori's demonstration that prescriptive and descriptive theories (the ideal and the real) must be blended, to be valid, in an integral whole—in theory of the democratically possible. The clarity and dramatic power of this erudite work render it very accessible to undergraduate students."

Terence Ball, University of Minnesota
"Admirers of Giovanni Sartori's Democratic Theory will find even more to admire in this greatly expanded and updated edition. Written with clarity and passion, The Theory of Democracy Revisited constitutes an important contribution to the contemporary debate about the nature and future of democracy."

James S. Fishkin, University of Texas at Austin
"A grand synthesis which should re-shape the debate for many years to come. Absolutely invaluable for both research and teaching."

Jennifer L. Hochschild, Princeton University
"As he did in Democratic Theory, Sartori has once again set the standard for closely reasoned, tightly structured argumentation in political theory. One may not always like where he comes out, but one has to work very hard (and not always successfully) to find a flaw in the logic. His discussion of 'how it is that majority rule winds up with minority rule' alone is worth the price of admission."

Everett Carll Ladd, University of Connecticut
"In 1976, Giovanni Sartori published Parties and Party Systems, the richest and most imaginative comparative study of political parties that we have. Now he has given us The Theory of Democracy Revisited. It is the most thoughtful and comprehensive study of democratic theory by any modern writer."