Dissonances: Democratic Critiques of Democracy

Guillermo O'Donnell here brings together a collection of significant recent essays in which he considers both the method for and substance of critiques of democracies. While progress has been made in democratization, the authoritarian legacy hangs as a shadow over that advancement. O'Donnell engages in his analysis while keeping a firm gaze on that dangerous past. O'Donnell's work has influenced a generation of political scientists. The essays in this volume bring forward and develop many of the ideas presented in his earlier collection, Counterpoints: Selected Essays on Authoritarianism and Democracy

For many years, O'Donnell has explored the various ways in which the democracies of Latin America--many of them new--failed to meet expectations held out for them by citizens, analysts, and political actors. The articles collected here represent some of the very best thinking by an author who remains one of the most creative and insightful political theorists, whose work is deeply grounded in empirical observation, whose ideas are consistently robust, and whose reflections can be both provocative and of great practical use. --Charles D. Kenney, University of Oklahoma

Author: Guillermo O'Donnell
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
Published: 11/30/2007
Pages: 196
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.96h x 6.65w x 0.53d
ISBN: 9780268037284

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2008 pg. 163

About the Author

Guillermo O'Donnell is the Helen Kellogg Professor of Government and Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He received the IPSA Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Political Science and is the author, editor, and co-editor of a number of books, including The Quality of Democracy: Theory and Applications (University of Notre Dame Press, 2004).

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