Donatella della Porta is professor of sociology at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. In 2011, she was the recipient of the Mattei Dogan Prize for distinguished achievements in the field of political sociology.

Chapter 1. Models of Democracy: An Introduction

Chapter 2. Liberal Democracy: Evolution and Challenges

Chapter 3. Participatory Democracy

Chapter 4. Deliberative Democracy: Between Representation and
Participation

Chapter 5. E-Democracy? New Technologies and Democratic
Deepening

Chapter 6. The Challenge of Global Governance

Chapter 7. Democratization and Social Movements

Chapter 8. Restricting Citizens' Participation: The Policing
of Protest

Chapter 9. Deliberative Experiments inside Institutions

Chapter 10. Can Democracy Be Saved? A Conclusion

"She has certainly conducted the greatest number of inquiries
and case studies on the issue, but manages not to lose sight of the
theoretical and normative dimensions involved."

Survival

"Very few authors can rival Donatella della Porta's ability
to present - in so few pages - such a broad but accurate sweep of
developments in contemporary political ideas about democracy. She
moves remarkably easily between exposition of classical debates in
political thought and empirical research on current new forms of
protest."

Colin Crouch, University of Warwick

"The search for a viable conception of democracy has for
decades centered on procedural criteria. Rejecting this monism, and
drawing on theorists like Habermas, Held, and Pateman, as well as
on her own empirical work on social movements, della Porta
masterfully proposes and illustrates a fourfold typology of
democratic theory - and of democracies - that challenges the canon
and opens a debate to compare representational, participatory, and
deliberative models of democracy."

Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University, author of Power in
Movement

"Given the current ailments of capitalist democracies, we all might
be inclined to exclaim: "That is a good question!" As an answer,
the author provides readers with both a nearly comprehensive
inventory of causes for concern as well as her spirited and
informative analysis of protest politics, the role of new media,
and the potential of new democratic ambitions that are both
participatory and deliberative. An overall optimistic message from
one of the leading social science experts on movement
politics."

Claus Offe, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin

"A timely in-depth investigation into the challenges and
opportunities that shape the way we think about democracy.
Answering the question of if and how democracy can be saved
requires a diligent analysis of the ever-changing meaning of
democracy and the distinct democratic qualities of different
democratic models. Della Porta's book does just that, providing a
solid foundation for beginning to tackle some of the more
far-reaching questions regarding democracy."

The International Spectator