Democracy and Dictatorship: The Nature and Limits of State Power

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U of Minnesota Press, 1989 - Political Science - 186 pages
In this important volume Norberto Bobbio examines some of the central themes of political theory and presents a systematic exposition of his views. With great astuteness and profound scholarship, Bobbio unfolds the elements for a general theory of politics.


Bobbio's wide-ranging argument is focused on four themes: the distinction between the public and the private; the concept of civil society; differing conceptions of the state and differing ways of understanding the legitimacy of state power; and the relation between democracy and dictatorship. Bobbio's discussion draws on a wealth of theoretical and historical material, from Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes and Locke to Marx, Weber, Habermas and Foucault. By analysing the development of different languages of politics in relation to changing social and historical contexts, Bobbio deepens our understanding of the concepts we use to describe and evaluate modern political systems.
 

Contents

The evaluative use of the great dichotomy
9
The second meaning of the dichotomy
17
The Marxian interpretation
27
The natural law tradition
34
State Power and Government
44
The name and the thing
57
The state and power
69
The foundation of power
81
The forms of government
100
Forms of state
111
The end of the state
125
Democracy and Dictatorship
133
The historical use
145
Representative democracy and direct democracy
152
Ancient dictatorship
158
Bibliography
167

State and law
89

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