The title of this particular book has little to do with political theory. Rather it is a snapshot of one particular family who produce a contender for the American presidency. Harry Victor and his wife Inez are at the center of the story set against the backdrop of the evacuation of Saigon in 1975. Inez Victor formerly Inez Christian is married to Harry Victor, a politician who aspires to the Whitehouse. Together they have two children Jessica and Adlai. Throughout the narrative, we are given snapshots from events spanning over forty years that attempt to explain the situation that the various characters find themselves in. Inez has been having an affair with Jack Lovett, an enigmatic American who is constantly traveling around Asia due to his involvement in various deals with the third force." Due to her husband's political aspirations, Inez has kept the affair a secret since 1952.

He never told me exactly what it was he did, nor would I have asked. Exactly what Jack Lovett did was tacitly understood by most people who knew him, but not discussed.

The daughter Jessica becomes a heroin addict and it is her decision to seek adventure in Saigon just before the fall that provides the latter part of the book with some drama where we get to see Jack Lovett in action and pull a few strings.

When word reached them in Honolulu on the following Sunday night, Easter Sunday night 1975, the night before Janet's funeral, that three hours after the Warner Communications G-2 left Seattle, bringing Harry and Adlai Victor down to Honolulu, Jessie had walked out of the clinic that specialised in the treatment of adolescent chemical dependency and talked her way onto a C-5A transport that landed seventeen-and-one-half hours later (refueling twice in flight) at Tan Son Nhut, Saigon.

Democracy is sometimes tedious and other times plain boring. It is written from several different points of view, none of which hold the reader's interest for too long. A quote on the back cover even compares it to the Quiet American by Graham Greene. Nothing could be further from the truth. A story were airplanes figure largely and there are many hints of a submerged story that never quite sees the light of day. This book was a disappointment.