Danielle Allen's Design for Democracy: A Review Essay

In Justice by Means of Democracy, author Danielle Allen argues that justice in the fullest sense requires a robust set of democratic institutions and practices. Focused on the United States, the author challenges the idea that justice can be achieved by first maximizing economic output and then redistributing funds and benefits to enhance the welfare of poor and less-well-off people. In the book, Allen suggests a wide range of policy proposals and institutional reforms intended to lead toward participatory constitutional democracy; social practices that enable people to make connections across divides of race, class, and the like; a more inclusive approach to immigration and integration of immigrants into American society; and an economy that empowers ordinary people and strengthens democracy. However, the author's arguments for these proposals suffer from lack of intellectual clarity about principles, institutions, and democratic practices. The argument is also weakened by its avoidance of the hard issues that arise when scholars and others turn from lofty principles to attempts to implement them. Consequently, the book falls far short of achieving its bold ambitions.