Skip to content

Is “democracy,” as we understand the term today, an implementation of “self-government,” as this ideal was formulated when representative institutions were first established? The evidence is mixed.

— Adam Przeworski Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government (2010)

Another quote →

Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government (2010), Chapter 8. Democracy as an Implementation of Self-Government in Our Times
Work: Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government, 2010
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by Adam Przeworski

In general dictators have not done better at [economic] policies than democrats—far from it. Most dictators have ravaged their countries for personal gain. Scholars have asked whether democracy helps or hurts the economic growth of poor countries and despite many surveys, have come to no conclusive answer.

Fareed Zakaria (2007)

All Adam Przeworski quotes →

More quotes by Adam Przeworski

Democracy is a system in which parties lose elections.

The simple answer to the question with which we began is that we do not know whether democracy fosters or hinders economic growth.

Democracy can be an equilibrium: a system of "self-government" in which the distinction between the rulers and the ruled disappears.

Adam Przeworski (1991)

Social democrats will not lead European societies into socialism. Even if workers would prefer to live under socialism, the process of transition must lead to a crisis before socialism could be organized.

Capitalism and social democracy (1985)

Marx may have erred in analyzing the nature of this conflict. Interests of workers and capitalists may not be irreconcilable under all circumstances, and workers may see the choice between capitalism and socialism differently depending upon the specific political and economic conditions under which they live.

All Adam Przeworski quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Adam Przeworski (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.