Beyond Adversary Democracy - Paperback

by Jane J. Mansbridge (Author)

"Beyond Adversary Democracy should be read by everyone concerned with democratic theory and practice."-Carol Pateman, Politics

"Sociologists recurrently complain about how seldom it is that we produce books that combine serious theorizing about important issues of public policy with original and sensitive field research. Several rounds of enthusiastic applause, then, are due Jane Mansbridge . . . for having produced a dense and well written book whose subject is nothing less ambitious than the theory of democracy and its problems of equality, solidarity, and consensus. Beyond Adversary Democracy, however, is not simply a work of political theory; Mansbridge explores her abstract subject matter by close studies (using ethnographic, documentary, and questionnaire methods) of two small actual democracies operating at their most elemental American levels (1) a New England town meeting ("Selby," Vermont) and (2) an urban crisis center ("Helpline"), whose 41 employees shared a New Left-Counterculture belief in participatory democracy and consensual decision-making. [Mansbridge] is a force to contend with. It is in our common interest that she be widely read."-Bennett M. Berger, Contemporary Sociology

Back Jacket

This book deals with two great themes in American political thought: democracy and equality. I began work on it in the late 1960s, when I was a member of several small' participatory democracies.' Sooner or later, internal struggles over equality left each of these groups in disarray.

Author Biography

Jane J. Mansbridge is professor of political science at Northwestern University. She is also on the faculty of the university's Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research.