On Participation

Participation and Democratic Theory, by Carole Pateman. New York: Cambridge University Press. 122 pp.

This book may initiate an effort to formulate and gather the evidence in support of “participatory democracy” as its advocates confront contemporary democratic theorists. Miss Pateman presents a study in six chapters. Two criticize what she calls the “contemporary theory of democracy” (from Schumpeter through Berelson, Dahl, Sartori, Eckstein, and others) by considering the role of participation in the theories of Rousseau, Mill, and Cole —seen by Schumpeter as proponents of an irrational theory of democracy. Four other chapters present empirical evidence of the viability of participatory democr...