"In political discussion, 'democracy' is normally treated as a simple, unquestioned, timeless good against which all forms of political life can be objectively tested. Avakian attempts to go to the root of democratic theory and practice by a detailed examination of its sources and history, and, as a result, to show whose class interests are served by democratic institutions that only appear to serve everyone's interests. Avakian presents incisive critiques of the standard arguments for democracy in such classics as de Tocqueville's Democracy in America and Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism. In addition, the author engages in radical and socialist reintrpretations of democracy which he finds still tied to the prevailing bourgeois theories. Avakian argues his position on the decisive limitations of democracy in such a way that careful readers are compelled to clarify and rethink their own views.Avakian has written a serious and demanding work of political philosophy and political practice." — Norman K. Gottwald, editor of The Bible and Liberation: Political and Social Hermeneutics