Ralf Dahrendorf

Ralf Dahrendorf, the renowned German-born sociologist, is the author of numerous books in both German and English, including Reflections on the Revolution in Europe (1990) and After 1989: Morals, Revolution and Civil Society (1997). A member of Britain’s House of Lords, he has served as a commissioner of the European Community (1970–74), director of the London School of Economics (1974–84), and warden of St. Antony’s College, Oxford (1987–97). The text below is a version of chapter four of Dopo la Democrazia (2001), a book based on interviews with Lord Dahrendorf by Italian journalist Antonio Polito. It was translated from the Italian by Iain L. Fraser.