Democracy or Republic?: How the Founders Crafted the Constitution as the Blueprint for Self-Government

By Jay Cost

How do you place the people in charge without creating a democratic tyranny? By the time of the American Revolution, nobody in the history of the world had yet answered this question.
In recent years, the Constitution has become a source of political controversy between conservatives and progressives. While the right defends our founding document, the left argues that it's an antiquated plan of government that goes against the basic principles of democratic sovereignty.
In Democracy or Republic?, Jay Cost argues that America's Constitution was designed for a republic, not a democracy. The Constitution ensures that the people rule for the good of all, not just those who happen to make up a majority.
Our Constitution does this by promoting consensus. It empowers large, broad, and considered coalitions of people who have found common cause with one another.
America, then, is not merely a democracy. It is something greater.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0844750522
• ISBN13: 9780844750521
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: AEI Press
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"