Vital Democracy outlines a theory of democracy in action, based on four elementary forms of democracy--pendulum, consensus, voter and participatory democracy--that are thoroughly analyzed, compared and related to both the literature and the real world of democracy. Just like a few primary colors produce an array of shades, a few basic models of democracy appear, the author argues, to constitute a wide range of democratic variants in real life.
Focusing on tried and tested democratic institutions, Frank Hendriks shows that the four models of democracy--with their divergent patterns of...

The Oxford Handbook of Local and Regional Democracy in Europe analyzes the state of play of democracy at the subnational level in the 27 member states of the EU plus Norway and Switzerland. It places subnational democracy in the context of the distinctive Anglo, French, German, and Scandinavian state traditions in Europe asking to what extent these are still relevant today. The Handbook adapts Lijphart's theory of democracy and applies it to the subnational levels in all the country chapters. A key theoretical issue is whether subnational (regional and local) democracy is...

This book demonstrates both successes and failures in attempts to get closer to the ideal of good urban governance in cities in North-America, Europe, and Asia. It presents a value menu and deliberately does not come up with "one best way" for improving urban governance. Good urban governance is presented as a balancing act, an interplay between government, business and civil society in which the core values need careful and timely attention. The authors address questions such as "What is deemed "good" in urban governance, and how is it being searched for?," and "What (re)configurations of...