The monograph offered to the Russian reader is a fundamental work summarizing and systematizing the discussions on the problems of the democratic structure of society that have been conducted over the past centuries: from the French Revolution of the late 18th century (Charles Montesquieu) to the present day (Norberto Bobbio). The picture of the evolution of democracy, painted against the general background of the development of European civilization, looks bright and multicolored. In this picture, democracy is presented as a direction of social thought, which, on the one hand, is constantly transforming, adapting to new social demands, on the other, it itself forms the goals of socio-political action.