Drawing from the successes and failures of the movements of all four countries, he argues that democracy, both in terms of the character of society itself and within the political movements that propose to transform it, is as central to the success of a post-Cold War revolutionary project as justice.
But what do we mean by democracy? Is it reducible to a new set of recipes? Is it an identifiable rite of passage through which a nation passes—a gateway to a higher stage of development? Or is it, like nation-building, a process that ebbs and flows unevenly and at times erratically, dependent upon often unpredictable internal and external factors? What are its economic and social components as well as its various political forms? To what degree is it shaped by particular socio-economic, historic and cultural context? How much is popular participation essential to the practice of democracy, and how can it be fostered in a non-manipulative manner while yet retaining its substance? These are some of the questions that drive the exchanges running through this book.
Rethinking Revolution offers a window into some of the most creative thinking on how to work for popular democracy and social justice in the post-Cold War era—and what democracy and social justice mean today.
