The Down–Deep Delight of Democracy

This profound analysis explores issues central to the wave of civil uprisings that swept the world in 2011. Extending and deepening the author’s past analysis of the relationship between democracy and neoliberalism in an urban context, this volume explores democracy in greater theoretical depth. It works closely with the thought of key scholars in political theory including Friedrich Nietzsche, Antonio Gramsci, Henri Lefebvre, Jacques Rancière, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. It discovers in their work a profound desire for democracy, a democracy in which we struggle individually and collectively to actively manage our own affairs. The arguments in this book go right to the heart of the challenge now facing the political left.

Acknowledgments viii 1 What Is to Be Done? 1 2 What Democracy Means 29 3 Becoming Democratic 75 4 Becoming Active 92 5 Revolutionary Connections 122 6 Conclusion 143 References 159 Index 168

Mark Purcell is Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Design & Planning at the University of Washington, USA, where he researches urban politics, political theory, social movements, and democracy. He is the author of Recapturing Democracy (2008) and numerous articles in journals including International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Urban Geography, Environment and Planning, Antipode, Urban Studies, Political Geography, Review of International Political Economy, and Planning Theory.