What is democracy? Why should we value it? What is the relation between democracy and individual rights? Is majority rule always democratic? Why do we have political parties? Are some electoral systems more democratic than others? What is the relation between nationalism and democracy, or democracy and a market economy? How can democracy be maintained and improved? What difference does it make to ordinary people? What is its future?

These are only some of the questions addressed in this important new textbook. Its authors were specially commissioned by UNESCO to assemble eighty of the most pressing questions about democracy in the world today, and to provide clear and authoritative answers to them. The result is a masterpiece of succinct exposition, which will be of value to all those who want to know more about democratic theory and practice, of value to students, interested citizens, political activists or employees in the public service, whether they live in established or developing democracies.

The questions are systematically arranged in six sections: basic concepts and principles; free and fair elections; open and accountable government; individual rights and their defence; democratic or civil society; the future of democracy. The book forms an outstanding introduction to what is, perhaps, the most important concept in politics.

What is democracy? Why should we value it? What is the relation between democracy and individual rights? Is majority rule always democratic? Why do we have political parties? Are some electoral systems more democratic than others? What is the relation between nationalism and democracy, or democracy and a market economy? How can democracy be maintained and improved? What difference does it make to ordinary people? What is its future?

These are only some of the questions addressed in this important new textbook. Its authors were specially commissioned by UNESCO to assemble eighty of the most pressing questions about democracy in the world today, and to provide clear and authoritative answers to them. The result is a masterpiece of succinct exposition, which will be of value to all those who want to know more about democratic theory and practice, of value to students, interested citizens, political activists or employees in the public service, whether they live in established or developing democracies.

The questions are systematically arranged in six sections: basic concepts and principles; free and fair elections; open and accountable government; individual rights and their defence; democratic or civil society; the future of democracy. The book forms an outstanding introduction to what is, perhaps, the most important concept in politics.

What is democracy? How do we know when we have it? Is liberal democracy merely one, or the only, version of democracy, realizable at governmental level? What is the relation between democracy and human rights? Do economic and social rights really count as human rights, and are they necessary to democratic citizenship? These are some of the questions addressed in this original book.

The volume is organized around an interlinked set of problems: democracy's definition and justification; its institutional and societal conditions; the relation between democracy and human rights; the assessment of democracy through democratic audit, and the criteria for its consolidation, development and deepening.

"Democracy and Human Rights" will be of particular value to students of politics who are interested in democracy both as an idea and as a political and social practice, and to those concerned with issues of human rights and their relation to democracy.

Max Weber's writings on the politics of Wilhelmine in Germany and the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917 are much less well known than his contributions to historical and theoretical sociology, yet they are essential to any overall assessment of his thought. Drawing on these writings, still mostly untranslated, David Beetham offers the most comprehensive account available in English of Weber's political theory.

The book explores Weber's central concern with the prospects for liberal Parliamentarism in authoritarian societies and in an age of mass politics and bureaucratic organization, and shows how this concern led him to a revision of democratic theory which is still influential. It argues that Weber's analyzis of the class basis of contemporary politics necessitate a modification in some of the accepted interpretations of his sociology of modern capitalism. A special feature of the book is its full treatment of the extensive German literature on Weber's political thought.

This second edition contains a substantial new critical introduction and an expanded bibliography. Otherwise the text of the widely acclaimed first edition remains unaltered. This is a book which adds an essential dimension to the understanding of Max Weber for students of sociology and politics who have previously only approached his work through his sociological writings.

This volume of specially commissioned articles by leading authorities in the field shows how the subject of human rights impacts on contemporary politics and on the discipline of political science. It assesses the role of human rights in political theory, international law and international relations, and the politics of different regions of the world, including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Besides broad regional and international surveys, subjects treated include: the question of collective rights, relativism and universalism, the future of social and economic rights, the role of NGO's and international organisations, the Vienna world conference, human rights in US foreign policy. An editorial introduction considers the place of human rights in the politics curriculum. An international group of contributors includes political scientists, political philosophers, academic lawyers and those with experience of human rights campaigning.