The good state : on the principles of democracy / A. C. Grayling

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 What Democracy Entails -- The Purpose of Government -- 3 Powers and Institutions -- 4 Politics and People -- 5 Governance and Constitutionality -- 6 Rights in a Democracy -- 7 The Subversion of Democracy -- Conclusion: Democracy and Its Principles -- Appendix I: Proportional Representation -- Appendix II: Alternative Forms of Democracy -- Appendix III: Some Westminster Model Systems -- Appendix IV: British Parliamentary Code of Conduct -- Bibliography -- Notes -- Index.

What principles must a political and constitutional order be based upon if it is to be democratic? The following pages answerthis question. The answer is given by an examination of what the concept of democracy itself entails. The point of asking the question is that even those states standardly described as the 'world's leading democracies' do not meet the requirements that the principles of democracy impose. -- Preface