Limit of legality

Author: Wolf (USA) / Shen Han et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: This book is a representative work of Western radical political sociologists. The authors argue that the Western world held an optimistic attitude towards liberal democracy in the 1950s, but by the 1970s, pessimism emerged as liberal democracy failed to solve the severe problems of Western society. The problems with liberal democracy grew increasingly larger, and the role of the government expanded accordingly. The reason lies in the fact that liberal democracy is plagued by conflicts and contradictions. Freedom and democracy involve different, conflicting political theories. In the 19th century, they played a certain role in mitigating social conflicts, but in the contemporary era, they no longer meet societal demands. The authors review the political history of Western capitalist societies, pointing out that freedom and democracy have taken successive different institutional forms, such as the accumulator state, the universal suffrage state, the dual state, and so on. Each form of state inevitably faces problems, leading to the stagnation of the state. The authors believe that there may be more diverse choices in the future.