What Democracy Is for: On Freedom and Moral Government (Critical Essay‪)‬

What Democracy Is For: On Freedom and Moral Government Stein Ringen Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007, 334 pp. In common usage, democracy means roughly any state of affairs approved by the speaker. Given that tendency toward vagueness, any writing on democracy, even a book review, should begin by defining its subject. Democracy is a form of government in which sovereignty rests with the population at large and decisions are made by majority rule. Liberal democracy means that individual rights constrain the power of government. Social democracy, in contrast, offers few if any protections for private property though government remains limited on issues like civil liberties and social freedoms while redistributing wealth in the name of equality.