Second call for papers.

It is widely assumed that it is simply self-evident that democracy is the best system of government: imperfect, but better than anything else. Why? What does democracy have to recommend it? What are the assumptions that lie behind democracy? What sort of democracy? Is representative democracy the ideal form? Is it the best guarantor of freedom? How does democracy understand freedom? Are there any plausible alternatives either to democracy itself or to representative democracy? What might thinking about alternatives suggest about how we might organise ourselves? Does the state remain the zenith of political organisation? What might the implications be for the organisation of political life of the growth of corporate power and of corporate forms of organisation?

These and related issues will be of interest to people working in, among other areas, philosophy, political theory, politics, sociology, international relations, cultural studies, history, government and law.

Abstracts of 300 words to be submitted by email by 16 May 2008