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Proposes an interpretative framework for the comparison of democratic transitions. It argues that the complex dynamics, shifting agendas, and multiple interactions that characterize all such processes can be integrated and brought into focus by the construction of an analogy with theatre and drama. Every democratic transition obeys the logic of a public dramatic performance. The chapter also revisits the origins of democracy to confirm the robustness of this analogy with drama.

Chapter 2 lays out the principal reasons for the advantages and evolution of partially independent territories (PITs). PITs often benefit from high degrees of nationalistic compromise, core state public goods, and credible commitments that their fully independent counterparts do not enjoy. They not only emerge because of these advantages, but also because they are initially seen by core states as an institutional response for preventing catastrophes such as state fragmentation, war, and/or economic disaster. In time the sense of self-interest and fear that tends to launch partially independent unions often gives way to mutual trust that is bolstered by core state norms of shared identity and PIT perceptions of fairness. PIT secession will, however, become an increasing possibility if this mutual trust—especially the trust that is underpinned by PIT perceptions of fairness—becomes weakened.

This chapter introduces the book’s main ideas: that a shadow of unfairness will darken any conceivable liberal-democratic regime, that this circumstance has not been recognized by contemporary political thinkers, and that a plebeian conception of liberal democracy is well-suited to acknowledge and progressively respond to the shadow of unfairness. After detailing the principal elements of plebeianism whose elaboration and defense will be the purpose of the succeeding chapters, the rest of the chapter further clarifies the meaning of a plebeian theory of democracy by illuminating four of its overarching features: its commitment to developing, not abandoning, the liberal-democratic regime; its reliance on the plebeians of ancient Rome as an instructive analogue for ordinary, second-class citizens today; the sense in which it might be considered a contribution to democratic realism; and its incorporation of Green’s earlier work in democratic theory, The Eyes of the People.