The Future of Democracy: A Defence of the Rules of the Game (Italian: Il futuro della democrazia) is a 1984 book by the Italian political scientist Norberto Bobbio.

Bobbio examined what he called the "six broken promises of democracy".

[3] These concern the respect for the individual's sovereignty, the conflict between political representation and particular interests, oligarchy, self-governance, education and transparency.

[2] Richard Dagger wrote in the Social Science Quarterly that although Bobbio represented the Italian Socialist Party in the Senate of the Republic, his conception of democracy is liberal rather than socialist, because Bobbio argued that competition between elites is the defining characteristic of democracy.

Dagger wrote that the book contains "good advice" but criticised Bobbio for being too willing to accept deficiencies in democratic regimes.