The Spectre of Race: How Discrimination Haunts Western Democracy

"The literature on democracy is full of works that analyze how dominated groups struggle to end their marginalization and achieve full citizenship. Hanchard focuses our attention on the other side of that story. Through the lens of race, he brilliantly traces how dominant groups construct democracies more to administer and manage political inequality than to overcome it. Important and timely, this book is informed, elegant, and large in scope and impact."--Jeffrey A. Winters, Northwestern University

"In this wide-ranging and brilliant book, Hanchard sheds light on the tension between democracy and the inequality needed to sustain it. Along the way, he examines the ways in which race has been used and misused through its absence and presence in comparative politics. The Spectre of Race asks big, important questions."--Christopher Sebastian Parker, University of Washington