Limitations of Legitimacy -- Contemporary Political Theory Translation Series

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 toward liberal democracy in the 1950s, but by the 1970s, pessimism emerged because liberal democracy had not resolved the severe problems of Western society. The problems of 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 conflicting political theories, which played a certain role in mitigating social tensions in the 19th century but have since become unable to meet contemporary 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 accumulating 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.