OASES IN THE DESERT - ARENDT,HANNAH ON DEMOCRATIC-POLITICS

Hannah Arendt never wrote systematically on the subject of democracy. In her book of greatest relevance to the subject, On Revolution, she c riticized liberal democracy, and defended a conception of virtuous pol itical ''elites,'' leading most commentators to view her as an opponen t of democracy. I argue that Arendt defended a distinctive conception of grass-roots democracy, and that her conception of elites is distinc tively democratic rather than anti-democratic. I bolster this argument by examining her historical context, and conclude by assessing the re levance of Arendt's conception of democracy.