The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy by C. B. Macpherson is a brief but thorough discussion of the theoretical constructs associated with four models of liberal democracy. Macpherson used three successive models to explain his theories. The use of models as the framework within which he described and discussed liberal democracy is an effective methodology for this type of analysis. Using this method, the text can be organized chronologically as well as contextually. Theoretical models allow the use of a broader range of variables, such as historical events, societal developments, and human actions. Models also can explain the underlying reality of prevailing or past correlations between events and how history is influenced by people and events. Models allow theorists to project the probability of future changes.
Models describing different types of democracy have been concerned with the changing and unchanging characteristics of people and society in the present and with the forces and variables which may be expected to operate in the future. Laws of change were originally formulated in the 18th century. The law of change established four stages of society: hunting, pastoral, agricultural and commercial. The law of change assumed that commercial was the final stage.
However, in the 19th century, other theorists such as Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, and John Stuart Mill subscribed to a mainline theory which made future projections based on a societyÆs past development. Based on these future projections, commercial may not be the final stage of societal development.
In the first chapter, Macpherson explained how he planned to define liberal democracy. He included definitions ranging from liberal democracy as a capitalist market society, to a society striving to ensure that all its members are equally free to realize their capabilities. Macpherson used both meanings of liberal democracy in this work (1).