The relationship between inequality and democracy is a compelling one for the contemporary social scientist. This book addresses questions raised as early as the time of Aristotle, and continue through Marx to the present day. Theories of inequality in relation to democracy are explored, and the book focuses on the sources of democracy, the relationship between economic development and thresholds of democracy, and finally responses to democratization. As the gap between rich and poor widens within and between nations, the subject of this book becomes increasingly important worldwide.

Introduction Manus I. Midlarsky; Part I. The Early Bases of Democracy: 1. Democracy before Athens Kenneth A. Bollen and Pamela M. Paxton; 2. Environmental influences on democracy: aridity, warfare and land inequality Manus I. Midlarsky; 3. Democracy and proto-modernity: technoecological influences on the growth of political and civil rights Edward Crenshaw; 4. Inequality and democracy in the anthropolitical record Melvin Ember, Carol R. Ember and Bruce Russett; Part II. Economic Development and Thresholds of Democracy: 5. Economic determinants of democracy Edward N. Muller; 6. Informational inequality and democracy in the New World Order Miles Simpson; 7. Modernization and thresholds of democracy: evidence for a common path and process Michael Coppedge; 8. Markets and inequality in the transition from state socialism Victor Nee and Raymond V. Liedka; Part III. Responses to Democratization: 9. Democracy and inequality: tracking welfare spending in Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea Steve Chan; 10. Political regimes and industrial wages: a cross-national analysis Mark Gasiorowski; 11. Social responses to neoliberal reforms in Eastern Europe in the 1990s Béla Greskovits; 12. Market, state, and citizenship in new democracies Giuseppe DiPalma; 13. Conclusion: paradoxes of democracy Manus I. Midlarsky.