A Theory of Militant Democracy

Download or read book A Theory of Militant Democracy written by Alexander S. Kirshner and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2014-01-07 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How should pro-democratic forces safeguard representative government from anti-democratic forces? By granting rights of participation to groups that do not share democratic values, democracies may endanger the very rights they have granted; but denying these rights may also undermine democratic values. Alexander Kirshner offers a set of principles for determining when one may reasonably refuse rights of participation, and he defends this theory through real-world examples, ranging from the far-right British Nationalist Party to Turkey’s Islamist Welfare Party to America’s Democratic Party during Reconstruction.