Industrial democracy in West Germany: Co-determination and participation

The theory and practice of democracy may be viewed from many different perspectives: (1) as a means of achieving higher ends; (2) as a political method for the allocation of finite resources; (3) as a protective system to guard the people from one another; (4) as an authority structure in which everyone is to have a semblance of equal say; (5) as a way to alleviate and resolve power conflicts among competing factions; (6) as a way of representing the masses in complex political affairs; (7) as an aspect of the distinctive and often unique culture of a particular nation