Norberto Bobbio 
Democracy and Dictatorship 
The Nature and Limits of State Power

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.

Innehållsförteckning

Introduction: Democracy and the Decline of the Left by John Keane.

Preface.

Part I: The great dichotomy: public/private:.

Corresponding dichotomies.

The evaluative use of the great dichotomy.

The second meeting of the dichotomy.

Part II: Civil Society:.

The various meanings.

The Marxian interpretation.

The Hegelian system.

The natural law tradition.

Civil society as civilised society.

The current debate.

Part III: State, Power and Government:.

Towards the study of the state.

The name and the thing.

The state and power.

The foundation of power.

State and law.

The forms of government.

Forms of state.

The end of the state.

Part IV: Democracy and Dictatorship:.

Democracy in the theory of governmental forms.

The descriptive use.

The evaluative use.

The historical use.

Modern democracy.

Representative democracy and direct democracy.

Political democracy and social democracy.

Formal democracy and substantive democracy.

Ancient dictatorship.

Modern dictatorship.

Revolutionary dictatorship.

Bibliography.

Index.

Om författaren

Norberto Bobbio is Emeritus Professor of Legal and Political Philosophy at the University of Turin.