A Preface to Democratic Theory.

First edition. 8vo. xi, [1], 155, [1] pp. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, top edge in red, dust jacket (some occasional ink underling and marginal highlighting throughout, light wear to extremities, otherwise a very good copy). Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.

An important early work by the distinguished political theorist Robert A. Dahl, most commonly associated with the pluralist theory of democracy in which political outcomes are enacted through competitive, if unequal, interest groups. The book introduced the concept of 'polyarchy' to political science which describes a form of government in which power is invested in multiple people. For Dahl, democracy is a pure concept or 'ideal type' that is never fully achieved in practice. The closest politics can practically come to the pure democratic ideal is a 'polyarchy'.

Stock Code: 244115