In this important and wide-ranging book, a leading political theorist and activist considers the question: What justifies democracy? Carlos Santiago Nino critically examines answers others have given and then develops his own distinctive theory of democracy, emphasizing its deliberative character. In Nino's view, democracy resembles a moral conversation and is valued because of its capacity to generate an impartial perspective, one that takes into account the interests of all citizens.

Nino's conception of deliberative democracy bears on the way power is organized under a constitution....

Does an emergent democracy have an obligation to prosecute its former dictators for crimes against humanity--for what Arendt and Kant called "radical evil"? What impact will such prosecutions have on the future of democracy?

In this book, Carlos Santiago Nino offers a provocative first-hand analysis of developments in Argentina during the 1980s, when a brutal military dictatorship gave way to a democratic government. Nino played a key role in guiding the transition to democracy and in shaping the human rights policies of President Raul Alfonsin after the fall of the military junta in...