A compendium on the essence of a system of coexistence that the modern world has taken over the past two centuries as its model.

A reflection by Gustavo Zagrebelsky which rests on convictions matured over long years of dedication to the subject, in which the meanings and history of a political model that aspires to equality, dialogue and the exercise of the rights of each and all are described in limpid language. Completing the volume is a selection of texts on the concept of democracy, significant if not all canonical, by authors of all times: Herodotus, Aristophanes, Cicero, Montesquieu, Tocqueville, Brecht, Orwell, Arendt, Bobbio and Carillo.