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Democracy has to be judged not just by the institutions that formally exist but by the extent to which different voices from diverse sections of the people can actually be heard.

— Amartya Sen The Idea of Justice (2009)

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Preface

Topics

Democracy

More quotes by Amartya Sen

Globalization is not in itself a folly: It has enriched the world scientifically and culturally and benefited many people economically as well.

To ask how things are going and whether they can be improved is a constant and inescapable part of the pursuit of justice.

The Idea of Justice (2009)

People's identities as Indians, as Asians, or as members of the human race seemed to give way — quite suddenly — to sectarian identification with Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh communities.

No less importantly, intellectual probing is needed to identify deeds that are not intended to be injurious, but which have that effect...

The Idea of Justice (2009)

Being smarter may help the understanding not only of one’s self-interest, but also how the lives of others can be strongly affected by one’s own actions.

The Idea of Justice (2009)

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Democracy is the wholesome and pure air without which a socialist public organization cannot live a full-blooded life.

Mikhail Gorbachev

The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them in parliament!

Vladimir Lenin The State and Revolution (1917)

The law itself is the instrument of the ruling class; hence it is a logical impossibility for another class to assume power legally.

Oliver Cox Caste, Class, and Race: A Study in Social Dynamics (1948)

The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of bourgeois stupidity.

Gustave Flaubert

Attribution

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