Normative democratic theory deals with the moral foundations of democracy and democratic institutions. it's distinct from descriptive and explanatory democratic theory. This brief outline of normative democratic theory focuses attention on four distinct issues in recent work. First, it outlines some different approaches to the question of why democracy is morally desirable in the least . Second, it explores the question of what it's reasonable to expect from citizens in large democratic societies. This issue is central to the evaluation of normative democratic theories as we'll see.

‘Equality’ may be a contested concept: “People who praise it or disparage it disagree about what they're praising or disparaging”.  Our first task is therefore to supply a transparent definition of equality within the face of widespread misconceptions about its meaning as a political idea.