The challenge of democracy posed by the rise of authoritarian regimes and the assault of politically-religious radicalism, as well as the crisis of representation and the decline of democracy internally, shapes the public debate. The belief that the process of modernization would necessarily promote and spread democracy has proven to be misleading. The future of democracy is no longer in question. It requires critique and advocacy. The book contains the revised and expanded contributions from a lecture series by the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation in Munich, which received significant attention. Esteemed scholars and leading intellectuals analyze the state of representative democracy in Germany as well as multi-level democracy in Europe and develop concrete reform proposals. They examine the questions of how decisions are made.