Inclusion and Democracy, by Iris Marion Young has changed my view of democracy in three main ways. First, it has simply changed my concept of democracy from an abstract, vague platitude to a definite set of principles, as argued as they may be, that can be evaluated with respect to any given circumstance. Second, I learned more about how state, economy and civil society fit into democracy and increased my understanding of it while learning how each of these spheres differ from one another. Finally, I was one of the people that she discusses in the final chapter as having unknowingly assumed a nationalist position on self-determination. She showed me that that is not the only way of looking at it and may indeed not be the best way.      Before reading this book I thought of democracy as a vague ideal that was found, maybe, in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, that was fought for in the French Revolution, and that we defended by participating in our own municipalities. Though I would have said I was in favor of universal American democracy, through my own recently realized ignorance, I could not have mentioned the poisons of exclusion or segregation, or the difficulties of having representative government on mass scale. Young brought these things to my attention.      The delineation of differences among state, economy and civil society were also very helpful. To understand that these things are not best represented by Venn diagrams but are instead best thought of as different sorts of activities has helped me to realize that they can coexist simultaneously. This has helped me understand how a non-profit organization of civil society can be a part of the state through lobbying and participate in the economy by paying some employees, but still remaining a non-profit organization of civil society. Similarly, it has helped me understand why an inclusive state government does not have to disregard non-profit organizations or representative organizations.      Nationalistic views of self determination intrinsically made sense to me. A state is created to provide for the individual what the individual cannot provide alone. That state, the boundaries of which clarified by national membership and cultural identity, would only be required to provide for the members of that state. I just assumed it. But, Young has shown me that such exclusions are not most helpful and that democracy on an international level may be better. Back to review of Iris Marion Young's Inclusion and Democracy Back to Current Affairs page Back to Philosophy page Ryan's Writings main page