Overview

Democracy in the twenty-first century faces a number of major challenges, populism, neoliberalism and globalisation being three of the most prominent. This book examines such challenges by investigating how the conditions of democratic statehood have been altered at several key historical intervals since 1945. It demonstrates that the formal mechanisms of democratic statehood, such as elections, have always been complemented by civic, cultural, educational, socio-economic and constitutional institutions that mediate between citizens and state authority. Rearticulating critical theory with a contemporary focus, the book shows why a sociological approach is urgently needed to address conceptual deficits and explain how the formal mechanisms of democratic statehood need to be complemented and updated in new ways today. -- .

Full Product Details

9781526105844

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Reviews

'Sociological theory often seems remote from the everyday realities of coping with economic and democratic crises. Darrow Schechter here gives the lie to that prejudice, showing through a careful, thoughtful and original analysis how contemporary sociology can throw refreshing and practical light on major issues often regarded as the monopoly of economists and political scientists.' Colin Crouch, FBA, Professor Emeritus, University of Warwick -- .

Author Information

Darrow Schecter is Professor of Critical Theory and Modern European History at the University of Sussex

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