This book is a highly original and provocative contribution to
democratic theory. Zolo argues that the increasing complexity of
modern societies represents a fundamental challenge to the basic
assumptions of the Western democratic tradition and calls for a
reformulation of some of the key questions of political theory.
Zolo maintains that, as modern societies become more complex and
more involved in the `information revolution’, they are subjected
to new and unprecedented forms of evolutionary stress – as
manifested, for instance, in the growing autonomy and power of
political parties, and in new kinds of political communication
which create and sustain the fiction of consensus. These forms of
stress have become so serious that they threaten to undermine some
of the values traditionally associated with democracy, such as the
rationality and autonomy of the individual, and the visibility and
accountability of power.
Table of Content
Preface.
Acknowledgements.
1. Some General Assumptions.
2. Complexity and Political Theory.
3. Complexity and Democratic Theory.
4. The Evolutionary Risks of Democracy.
5. The Principality of Communication.
6. Conclusion: Toward a Realist Theory of Democracy.
Select Bibliography.
Index of Subjects.
Index of Names.
About the author
Danilo Zolo was previously Associate Professor at the University of Florence. He is the author of many books and more than 50 essays concerning political philosophy, epistemology of the social sciences, system theory and the theory of social complexity.
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