Contemporary democratic theory

Abstract

Democracy is in crisis but democratic theory is thriving-this is the main claim Simone Chambers defends in her new book Contemporary Democratic Theory. She introduces democratic theory as an 'engaged, interesting, problem-driven' (p. 226) field and maps how recent scholarship responds to democracy's struggle with backsliding and declining trust in political institutions. Chambers understands democratic theory as 'normative democratic theory,' with an evaluative perspective mainly developed in political theory and political philosophy (p. 10). Her project is guided by two framing decisions. First, Chambers leaves behind model-based thinking: deliberative vs. agonist, participatory vs. representative democracy-or what others have called the 'model wars' in democratic theory (Dean et al., 2019, p. xi). Instead, in line with the systemic turn, she favors a more holistic, problem-based approach, which assumes that self-government requires a combination of deliberative and agonist, representative and participatory practices within a complex set of institutions (p. 13). Second, Chambers examines how democratic theory responds to 'real-world threats to, and erosion of, democracy ' (pp. 218-219). She identifies authoritarianism and oligarchization as the two main threats: 'Authoritarianism raises the danger that democratic government is no longer by the people; oligarchy involves the risk that democracy is no longer for the people' (p. 220; emphasis in original). Accordingly, the book focuses on how democratic institutions are increasingly unresponsive to ordinary citizens and threatened by authoritarian agents attempting to limit (equal) participation. These framing decisions are connected. While theorists have long been wondering 'What is the best form of democracy?' (p. 13), today we ask 'How can we save democracy?' (p. 14). When we focus on democracy in crisis, it is of little help to