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Version 3.2. Originally published on blog and wiki and then as a chapter in the book, Extreme Democracy. This version edited by Jon Lebkowsky. ; This essay argues that a new form of democracy — an "Emergent Democracy" — will develop as a result of the use of Internet communication tools and platforms such as blogs. The essay explores a variety of tools available and explores the history of democracy, modern experiments with democracy and how these tools might support democracy. The essay also explores concerns as these new tools emerge. These issues include concerns such as privacy and the societally negative use of these tools by corporations, totalitarian regimes and terrorists.

Overview: Written by the preeminent democratic theorist of our time, this book explains the nature, value, and mechanics of democracy. This new edition includes two additional chapters by Ian Shapiro, Dahl's successor as Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale and a leading contemporary authority on democracy. One chapter deals with the prospects for democracy in light of developments since the advent of the Arab spring in 2010. The other takes up the effects of inequality and money in politics on the quality of democracy, a subject that was of increasing concern to Dahl in his final years.

"For years, intellectuals have argued that, with the triumph of capitalist, liberal democracy, the Western World has reached "the end of history." Recently, however, there has been a rise of authoritarian politics in many countries. Concepts of post-democracy, anti-politics, and the like are gaining currency in theoretical and political debate. Now that capitalist democracies are facing seismic and systemic challenges, it becomes increasingly important to investigate not only the inherent antagonism between liberalism and the democratic process, but also socialism. Is socialism an enemy of democracy? Could socialism develop, expand, even enhance democracy?While this volume seeks a reappraisal of existing liberal democracy today, its main goal is to help lay the foundation for new visions and practices in developing a real socialist democracy. Amid the contradictions of neoliberal capitalism today, the responsibility to sort out the relationship between socialism and democracy has never been greater. No revival of socialist politics in the twenty-first century can occur without founding new democratic institutions and practices."--Publisher's description