Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age by Benjamin R. Barber was published by the University of California Press in 1984 and republished in a twentieth anniversary edition in 2004.
The book argues that representative or "thin" democracy is rooted in an individualistic "rights" perspective that diminishes the role of citizens in democratic governance.
The final chapter elucidates practical ways to apply the theory of strong democracy in large industrial societies.
Winning a mass election is normally a function of how much money is used for advertisement, and, thus, results in a rule by oligarchs, or plutocracy, Barber posits that the radical individualism that underpins liberal theory and practice actually fundamentally undermines democracy.
Barber also criticizes the liberal construction of the social contract, claiming that traditionalists influenced primarily by Hobbes view man and law as mere abstractions, which contributes to isolationism within society and a series of emergent pathologies.