"Rethinking Democracy" provides a unique insight into India's experience as the world's largest democracy. Covering democratic theory, the state, civil society, participation and the search for global justice, leading political theorist Rajni Kothari evaluates what this experience means for the very idea of democracy. Kothari powerfully demonstrates that we are at a juncture where democracy has failed, on a local and a global level. The promise of human emancipation has not been delivered and democratic ideals of justice and equality have failed to defeat the aggressive logic of capitalism. His acknowledgement of this disillusionment, however, allows him to search for a new decentralized and participatory democracy with freedom and environmental sustainability at its core. The culmination of Rajni Kothari's decades of political involvement, this book is a compelling analysis of where democracy went wrong.