Legitimate Opposition

“Legitimate opposition—an essential political practice aimed at concentrated power—has been hiding in plain sight. Now, at this critical moment, Kirshner brings it forcefully into focus.”—Nancy L. Rosenblum, coauthor of A Lot of People are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy

“In this brilliant book, Alexander S. Kirshner reminds us that representative democracy can hardly be conceived without permanent legitimate opposition and the practice of disagreement and political conflict.”—Nadia Urbinati, author of Me the People

“Alex Kirshner offers the definitive account of how we should understand the ‘legitimate opposition’— one that is realistic, skeptical, and yet preserves the most demanding aspirations for democracy.”—Russell Muirhead, coauthor of A Lot of People Are Saying

"Alexander Kirshner’s Legitimate Opposition offers a subtle, systematic and powerful way to analyze one crucial vulnerability in democracy: opposition by some to democracy itself."—Corey Brettschneider, author of The Oath and the Office