Democracy is alive and genuine where there is free debate about what it consists of. This introduction presents the foundations of democratic theory as responses to specific questions of shared political practice and illuminates the various problem-solving approaches not only in their conceptual and ethical premises but also from their empirical aspects. The question of the democratic design of relationships between democratic communities is treated equally with the question of the internal structuring of democracy. Furthermore, it addresses recent developments relevant to democracy on the internet, as well as the theory and practice of participatory forms of governance outside the Western tradition.