This book spans a broad range of philosophical topics from political justice to democratic legitimacy. It even lives up to its title by providing a thorough theoretical model of how an ideal democracy should work. I don't remember any other work where such a broad scope has been covered without sacrificing cohesion or argumentative strength. This book is an exemplary model of what political philosophy should look like in the 21st century.

Chapter 3 on political legitimacy in democracy is probably the best discussion on this subject that I've come across. Chapter 5, which discusses ideas of democratic control from Schumpeter to the author's own, partly market-inspired model, is also highly original and interesting. Chapter 2 on social justice was much less inspiring, but this is probably due to my own predilections, not the text itself.

I also liked the author's concise step-by-step summary of the entire argument at the end of the book. All in all this is great work and probably unique in the way it unifies the traditional ethical perspective of political philosophy with more descriptive and pragmatic ones from democratic theory. It asks a lot from its readers but also richly rewards focused students by opening up new vistas across many different subfields in political thought. It goes without saying that I highly recommend it.

Pettit lays out his explanation of republicanism as non-domination and how it relates to democracy in this series of lectures. An important sequel to his earlier work on civic republicanism. ( )