In recent years, several eminent intellectuals and politicians have argued that the European democracy of the 20th century should evolve into a democracy of the 21st century: democracies should become more deliberative and direct. But in this process of ongoing democratic transformation, we tend to forget that there are some democratic problems of the 20th century that we have not yet solved.
Thomas Van de Putte investigates three cases in which societies struggle to democratically organise the rights granted to different segments of society in the last century: animal rights, children's rights, and citizenship rights.