Democracy and freedom in Robert A. Dahl: democratic principles and the minimum model of democracy

Abstract

Robert A. Dahl is one of the most important American thinkers of the 20th century, having written about democracy and political science in a troubled era in the post-World War II era. The author brings in his writings definitions of the concept of modern democracy and institutes a new way of conceiving this form of government, which he describes as "polyarchy". The author is highly critical of theorists of idealistic societies and is quite sensible in his analyzes free of ideological tendencies. The present work aims to describe how Dahl thinks about democracy, describe his democratic conception of "polyarchy" and critically compare Dahl's thinking with some contemporary liberal ideas, in order to explore the understanding of the relations between liberalism and democracy.