"The principles and practices of democracy continue to spread ever more widely, and it is hard to imagine that there is a corner of the globe into which they will not eventually penetrate. But the euphoria of democratic revolutions is typically short-lived, and its attainment seems typically to be followed by disgruntlement and even cynicism about the actual operation of democratic institutions. It might be widely accepted that democracy is a good thing, yet it is equally apparent that democrats have much work to do in improving the performance of democratic institutions. Of course, it is far easier to perceive the need for reform than to prescribe specific proposals."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United StatesPolitical scientists from the United StatesImmigrants to the United StatesPeople from Johannesburg
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ian Shapiro and Stephen Macedo, "Introduction" in Designing democratic institutions (2000) edited by Ian Shapiro and Stephen Macedo.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ian_Shapiro
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Ian Shapiro
11 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Ian Shapiro →
Related Quotes
"An enduring embarrassment of democratic theory is that it seems impotent when faced with questions about its own scope."
"A principled commitment to democracy offers a way out of this bind which protagonists on both sides of the debate app…"
"The further institutional designers try to move along the continuum toward explicit proactive systems that force inte…"
"Although this is less often commented on in the academic literature, democracy is as much about opposition to the arb…"
"No conception of democracy as geared toward reducing domination can ignore the relations between the political system…"
"Political theorists often fail to appreciate that arguments about how politics ought to be organized typically depend…"
"Wealthy people used to find democracy frightening. The reason was simple: the poor, once enfranchised, should be expe…"
"First let me persuade you of my metaphysics and epistemology, then my theory of science, then my ethics and social th…"
"So Sen is right that democracy can be pressed into the service of reducing injustice. Indeed this can happen against …"
"It is hard not to sympathize with Shapiro's "show me the beef" approach to political theory. Rational choice theory h…"