A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism - Paperback

by Alexander S. Kirshner (Author)

How should pro-democratic forces safeguard representative government from anti-democratic forces? By granting rights of participation to groups that do not share democratic values, democracies may endanger the very rights they have granted; but denying these rights may also undermine democratic values. Alexander Kirshner offers a set of principles for determining when one may reasonably refuse rights of participation, and he defends this theory through real-world examples, ranging from the far-right British Nationalist Party to Turkey's Islamist Welfare Party to America's Democratic Party during Reconstruction.

Author Biography

Alexander Kirshner is an assistant professor of political science at Duke University and a senior fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. He lives in Durham, NC.