In this book, one of the most authoritative European theorists of democracy explores the causes and consequences of the crisis of the institution of representation and the ‘revolution of democratic legitimacy’ that began in the 1980s. The author shows that significant complication of social processes in the globalising world and individualisation of consciousness come into conflict with the ‘tyranny of the electoral majority’, which is no longer identified with the social whole and the public good. In such conditions, the author sees the solution to the problem of power legitimacy in the elaboration and application of its three forms based on impartiality, reflexivity and closeness. Complementing and correcting the electoral process, these qualities of the ‘new era of legitimacy’ significantly elevate the role of institutions of independent control over power. In this pioneering work, P. Rosanvallon introduces a number of categories that form the cognitive basis for the transformation of the democratic process.