Communism, Fascism, and Democracy

This highly regarded reader, intended for courses in both Philosophy and Political Science departments, remains unsurpassed in the breadth and depth of its coverage and in its exceptionally clear and provocative presentation of the theoretical foundations of communism, fascism, and democracy. Carl Cohen's text allows the theorists to speak for themselves, supplementing their writings with complete and lively introductions for each political ideology, each topic, and each selection. Part One, Communism, presents the development of Marxist thought from the early utopian socialists through the twentieth century. This third edition has been updated to reflect the fall of communism as a functioning political system. Also new to this edition is an expanded account of the theory of dialectical and historical materialism with more from Marx's economic writing - notably the passage from Capital on the "Fetishism of Commodities.". Part Two, Fascism, presents central passages from notable Italian and German fascists not readily accessible elsewhere. In this third edition, Part Two is reorganized to exhibit more clearly the relation between the early theoretical defenses of irrationalism and nationalism and the manifestation of these themes in the politics of fascist Italy and Germany. Part Three, Democracy, presents the seminal works in the history of democratic thought. This third edition offers a more systematic approach to the philosophy of democracy. Beginning with competing accounts of the nature of democracy, it moves on to a presentation of arguments, classical and modern, that justify democracy, and then discusses issues of implementation - theoretical questions about representation and about majority rule. In addition, there is a much more thorough treatment of the ideals of democracy in this edition, with systematic attention to different theories of equality (by authors as diverse as Immanuel Kant and Lani Guinier) and different defenses of democratic liberties (by Alexander Meiklejohn and others). Many new selections have been added to Part Three, among them excerpts from landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court (Barenblatt, Brown, Bakke, Baker v. Carr, and others), selections from A Theory of Justice by John Rawls, and additional selections from Democracy by Carl Cohen.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Philosophy, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.