Democracy and Human Rights - Tapa dura

"This collection brings together a decade of original thinking on the nature of democracy and human rights. With brilliance and clarity Beetham demonstrates the power of his unique approach to the integration of normative and empirical political analysis." Kevin Boyle, Human Rights Centre, University of Essex "David Beetham's writings on democracy have long been recognized for their acute combination of normative and institutional concerns, but this collection makes clearer than ever the driving force behind his work. Never one to shelter behind notions of essential contestation or irresoluble difference, he brings an exemplary clarity to the understanding of democracy and human rights and addresses the conditions under which these can thrive. This book cuts through much current confusion. In doing so, it provides us with many of the tools we need to make our democracies work." Anne Phillips, London School of Economics and Political Science

What is democracy? How do we know when we have it? Is liberal democracy merely one, or the only, version of democracy, realizable at governmental level? What is the relation between democracy and human rights? Do economic and social rights really count as human rights, and are they necessary to democratic citizenship? These are some of the questions addressed in this original book.The volume is organized around an interlinked set of problems: democracy's definition and justification: its institutional and societal conditions: the relation between democracy and human rights: the assessment of democracy through democratic audit, and the criteria for its consolidation, development and deepening.Democracy and Human Rights will be of particular value to students of politics who are interested in democracy both as an idea and as a political and social practice, and to those concerned with issues of human rights and their relation to democracy.