Bibliograph

Machiavellian democracy, John P. McCormick

Type

Label

Machiavellian democracy, John P. McCormick

Language

eng

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Machiavellian democracy

Medium

electronic resource

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Oclc number

715172273

Responsibility statement

John P. McCormick

Series statement

Cambridge books online

Summary

Intensifying economic and political inequality poses a dangerous threat to the liberty of democratic citizens. Mounting evidence suggests that economic power, not popular will, determines public policy, and that elections consistently fail to keep public officials accountable to the people. McCormick confronts this dire situation through a dramatic reinterpretation of Niccolò Machiavelli's political thought. Highlighting previously neglected democratic strains in Machiavelli's major writings, McCormick excavates institutions through which the common people of ancient, medieval and Renaissance republics constrained the power of wealthy citizens and public magistrates, and he imagines how such institutions might be revived today. It reassesses one of the central figures in the Western political canon and decisively intervenes into current debates over institutional design and democratic reform. McCormick proposes a citizen body that excludes socioeconomic and political elites and grants randomly selected common people significant veto, legislative and censure authority within government and over public officials--, Provided by Publisher

Table Of Contents

Introduction: Liberty, Inequality, and Popular Government -- 1 - Peoples, Patricians, and the Prince -- 2 - Democratic Republics and the Oppressive Appetite of Young Nobles -- 3 - The Benefits and Limits of Popular Participation and Judgment -- 4 - Elections, Lotteries, and Class-Specific Institutions -- 5 - Political Trials and "the Free Way of Life" -- 6 - Republicanism and Democracy -- 7 - Post-Electoral Republics and the People's Tribunate Revived

Classification