This is an ambitious and exciting collection that begins to fill an enormous gap in political theory literature. Where much existing work in the field is content to present democracy - and "democratic moments"- as historically or paradigmatically Western, this volume breaks bold new ground in truly situating discussion of democracy across time and space. From this perspective there emerges a more creative, and certainly more accurate, picture of what democracy is, what it might be, and how it has been thought about in the course of human history - including not only work from the ancient Greeks and Romans but also hugely influential writers such as the Abbé Sieyes, Sun Yat-sen, and al-Farabi.

Leigh Jenco, Professor of Political Theory, London School of Economics, UK

This collection of deeply challenging short essays brings together thinkers grappling with the challenges and promises of their own times and places, and invites us to try to learn from them as we ponder our own difficult moment. We encounter here analyses of democracy from classical antiquity, the modern West, medieval Baghdad, eighteenth-century Russia, colonial India, rebellious China, and more.

John Markoff, Distinguished University Professor of Sociology, History, and Political Science, University of Pittsburgh, USA