Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online Volume 1, Issue 1 | Page 62

2/2/2016

Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online

Achieving Democracy: Democratization in Theory and Practice
By: Mary F.T. Malone, editor
Achieving Democracy: Democratization in Theory and Practice. New York: Continuum Books, 2011. 394pp. $114.00.
ISBN: 1441191798. Pbk: $39.95. ISBN: 1441181822.
Volume: 1 Issue: 1
April 2013
Review by
Seth J. Frantzman, PhD
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israel
Mitchell A. Seligson, in the introduction to this interesting and important volume, asks “Why should we care about democracy” (p. xvii). Indeed
this is a worthwhile question in a world that has come to accept that democracy is the most preferable form of government and, in the absence of the
old Marxist view of a linear history, there is a view that most societies are progressing towards democracy. Seligson, a professor at Vanderbilt
University, argues that “democracy continues to evolve and spread throughout the world. However, one wonders if there are parts of the world
where democracy will not take hold, and whether things can be done to nudge along the process of democratization” (p. xix). This is particularly
pertinent in light