Democracy to Come

In this book Fred Dallmayr lays the groundwork for a new understanding of democracy. He argues that democracy is not a stable system anchored in a manifest authority (like monarchy) but is sustained by the recessed and purely potential rule of the people. Hence democracy has to constantly reinvent itself resembling theologically a creatio continua. Like one of Calder's mobiles democracy for him involves three basic elements that must be balanced constantly: the people political leaders and policy goals. Where this balance is disrupted democracy derails into populism Bonapartism or messianism. Given this need for balance democratic politics is basically a relational praxis. <p/>In our globalizing age democracy cannot be confined domestically. Dallmayr rejects the idea that it can be autocratically imposed abroad through forced regime change or that the dominant Western model can simply be transferred elsewhere. In this respect he challenges the equation of democracy with the pursuit of individual or collective self-interest insisting that other more ethical conceptions are possible and that different societies should nurture democracy with their own cultural resources. Providing examples he discusses efforts to build democracy in the Middle East China and India (respectively with Islamic Confucian and Hindu resources). In the end Dallmayr's hope is for a democracy to come that is a cosmopolitan community governed not by hegemonic force but by the spirit of equality and mutual respect.<br>