Democracy and Elections ties together political theory about the nature of democracies and empirical research on various electoral systems. After providing an historical review of the electoral institutions of Athens, the Roman Republic, the medieval church, and pre-reform Britain, author Richard S. Katz goes on to examine what role elections are expected to play in a variety of democratic theories.

He addresses the relationship between four values of democratic theory - popular sovereignty, liberalism, personal development, and community - and the electoral institutions used to implement them. The major theme set forth by Katz is that these four values are largely incompatible; therefore, different choices must be made among them.

This impressive study provides empirical information on more electoral institutions in more countries than has ever been available in one volume before. Democracy and Elections is an indispensable work for students of democracy and electoral institutions, and will be of great interest to professionals and advanced students of political science, as well as electoral systems consultants.