Between Tyranny and Anarchy provides a unique comprehensive history and interpretation of efforts to establish democracies over two centuries in the major Latin American countries. Drake takes an unusual interdisciplinary approach, combining history and political science with an emphasis on political institutions. He argues that, without a thorough examination of the historical roots and causes of Latin American democracy, most general theories can not adequately explain its failures, successes, and forms. Latin America offers an extraordinary laboratory for the study of democratic experiments. Alongside a well-deserved reputation for authoritarianism, it boasts one of the world's deepest, richest histories of democratic movements, ideas, and institutions. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the region's leading democracies did not lag very far behind the United States and Western Europe in making numerous advances. In comparison with those countries, though, Latin America's democratic history has been distinctive because of its fundamental dilemma: how to reconcile political systems theoretically committed to legal equality with societies divided by extreme socio-economic inequalities.

Combining the Greek words demos ("common people") and kratos ("strength"), democracy means "rule of the commoners." The philosophical and political debates surrounding democracy extend back 2500 years to Ancient Athens. For much of recent history, many people consider democracy to be a cherished value to protect and spread across the globe, while many others see it as a privilege they hope to someday enjoy. Even others, from all over the political spectrum, see democracy as an enemy to be squashed. Anarchists need to clarify the relationship between democracy and the state. What does "rule of the commoners" really mean and should anarchists support it? How do causes like feminism, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, and anti-capitalism relate to democracy? How does democracy relate to market exchange and social organization? Ten anarchist authors have chosen to participate in an in-depth examination of the idea of "democracy" and how it relates to anarchy.

Although the study of politics dates to ancient Greece, the basic questions that interested those earliest political scientists still linger with us today: What are the origins of government? What should government do? What conditions foster effective governance? Rational choice theory offers a new means for developing correctable answers to these questions. This volume illustrates the promise of rational choice theory and demonstrates how theory can help us develop interesting, fresh conclusions about the fundamental processes of politics. Each of the book’s three sections begins with a pedagogical overview that is accessible to those with little knowledge of rational choice theory. The first group of essays then discusses various ways in which rational choice contributes to our understanding of the foundations of government. The second set focuses on the contributions of rational choice theory to institutional analysis. The final group demonstrates ways in which rational choice theory helps to understand the character of popular government.

Wild Democracy calls for a more anarchic, more courageous democracy. This is an ethic for people who know the rights they hold, and who struggle to rule themselves. This is an ethic for unfinished revolutions; an ethic for those who will not be mastered. This is an ethic for those who hold fast to the rights they have by nature. This is an ethic that requires courage. Democracy is always a risky business; full of promise and danger. The promise is the freedom to rule ourselves. The danger is fear: fear of the unknown, fear of the unruly, fear of one another, fear of anarchy. Fear leads to authoritarianism. The fearful look for a strong hand, a powerful leader, a protector, a gun. Anarchy leads to courage, to self-reliance, self-discipline, self-rule, and solidarity. Anarchy is the nursery of democracy. It is not anarchy we have to fear, it is authoritarianism. We have been taught to see the people as a problem to be managed. Anne Norton sees them as a source of strength. Anarchic democracy grows wild: springing from the everyday actions of ordinary human beings. Liberalism and conservatism alike have turned away from the democratic, to institutions, rules, and regulations. Anne Norton turns to anarchic people who practice democratic ethics.

Show me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like. In recent years, such chants - in the main aimed at democratically-elected governments by free citizens - have become common in anti-government protests across the world. Something is clearly amiss with democracy. In Authentic Democracy, this democratic deficit is exposed. By unpacking the underlying arguments and assumptions which justify the current political order, Authentic Democracy shows that the existing democracies are in fact highly undemocratic; and that anarchism is what authentic democracy looks like. "Dan McKee offers an engaging and accessible case for anarchism, deeply rooted in ethics and powerfully responding to conventional defences of authority. This book is an original and valuable contribution which deserves a wide audience." - Uri Gordon, author of Anarchy Alive!