Includes bibliographical references and index.

Keane (politics, U. of Westmister, UK) constructs a history of the institution of democracy that aims to show how democracy has evolved into different forms from its beginnings in Athens. He identifies the latest form as "monitory" democracy, which is characterized by the spread of extra-parliamentary power-monitoring institutions that include public integrity commissions, judicial activism, local courts, workplace tribunals, consensus conferences, public interest litigation, independent public inquiries, and other forms of scrutiny. He highlights the case of India as demonstrative of "monitory" democracy after his survey of the evolution of democratic institutions in ancient Greece, the United States, Latin America, and Europe.