An important study to understand the concepts of freedom, social justice and the dynamism inherent in democratic states.
The Future of Democracy brings together seven essays originally published between 1978 and 1984, reviving the debate on the various transformations democracy has undergone. Bobbio discusses what constitutes real and ideal democracy, and ponders: "Even the most distant democracy from the (ideal) model cannot in any way be confused with an autocratic state, much less a totalitarian one."
The author contrasts what was promised with what was actually delivered in democratic societies, combining classical liberalism with the socialist tradition, constructing a vibrant and refined polemic against reactionism and dogmatism. He also identifies six unfulfilled promises in the democracies studied: pluralism, representation of interests, the persistence of oligarchies, limited space, invisible power, and citizenship education.
"It should be made quite clear that I make no bets on the future. History is unpredictable. If the philosophy of history is discredited, this stems from the fact that all the predictions announced by the various philosophies of history that succeeded one another throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries were contradicted by actual history. [...] Even without making any bets on the future, it is undeniable that [...] not only have existing democracies survived, but new democracies have appeared or reappeared where they had never existed before or where they had been eliminated by political or military dictatorships. Over the past few years, democracy has become the common denominator of all politically relevant issues, both theoretical and practical."
