Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Democracy and Its Crisis
    Unavailable
    Democracy and Its Crisis
    Unavailable
    Democracy and Its Crisis
    Ebook267 pages5 hours

    Democracy and Its Crisis

    By A. C. Grayling

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Prompted by events in recent years in the UK and the USA, in Latin America, Russia and the Middle East, A. C. Grayling investigates why the institutions of representative democracy seem unable to sustain themselves against forces they were designed to manage, and why it matters. In each of five short chapters, he considers a moment in history in which the challenges we face today were first encountered, how they were overcome – or not – and with what consequences.


    With the advent of authoritarian leaders and the simultaneous rise of populism, representative democracy appears to be caught between a rock and a hard place, yet it is this space that it must occupy, argues Grayling, if a civilized society, that looks after all its people, is to flourish.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOneworld Publications
    Release dateSep 7, 2017
    ISBN9781786072900
    Unavailable
    Democracy and Its Crisis
    Author

    A. C. Grayling

    A. C. Grayling is the Founder and Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and its Professor of Philosophy. Among his many books are The God Argument, Democracy and Its Crisis, The History of Philosophy, The Good State and The Frontiers of Knowledge. He has been a regular contributor to The Times, Guardian, Financial Times, Independent on Sunday, Economist, New Statesman, Prospect and New European. He appears frequently on radio and TV, including Newsnight and CNN News. He lives in London.

    Read more from A. C. Grayling

    Related to Democracy and Its Crisis

    Related ebooks

    Philosophy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Introduction: Populism, Self-Government, and Liberty

      Aug 4, 2021

      Populist and neoliberal are epithets: anyone who uses one of these terms as a description doesn’t belong to the group being described. The more extreme stand-ins— socialist for the Left and fascist for the Right—are hyperbolic and hackneyed, so popul

      15 min read

    • Article

      Putting Populism in Its Place

      Aug 4, 2021

      On November 8, 2016, the world was stunned by the election of Donald Trump as the forty-fifth president of the United States of America. The fact that roughly 63 million Americans had voted for the host of The Apprentice, a political outsider who vow

      21 min read

    • Article

      Power To The People

      Jan 17, 2022

      Power To The People
      10 min read

    • Article

      Fragile Freedom

      Mar 6, 2022

      Fragile Freedom
      2 min read

    • Article

      Party Animals

      Jan 17, 2022

      Party Animals
      11 min read

    • Article

      A Crisis Of Truths

      Jan 27, 2022

      A Crisis Of Truths
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Oldest Question in Politics

      Jan 17, 2022

      ALMOST 25 YEARS AGO, I BEGAN TO NOTICE A DISTURBING TREND in fledgling democracies. Countries in the former Soviet empire and elsewhere were holding elections, leaders were gaining power with considerable popular support—but these leaders were then a

      3 min read

    • Article

      Evolution Is Never a Straight Line: The Millions Interviews Douglas R. Burgess Jr.

      Mar 1, 2022

      Donald Trump remains one of the greatest threats to human rights and progress since Adolf Hitler. But he is also an old man who will die soon. What matters most is that we do not allow the contagion of his nihilism to infect our foreign policy. The p

      7 min read

    • Article

      'Can Democracy Work?' Considers The Perils And Pitfalls Of The Institution Across Time

      Oct 5, 2018

      Author and academic James Miller examines the idea of democracy in five distinct moments throughout human history, and chronicles how vastly different each iteration has been.

      3 min read

    • Article

      The American Crisis

      Sep 12, 2018

      The American Crisis
      5 min read

    • Article

      Unintended Consequences

      May 29, 2022

      Unintended Consequences
      10 min read

    • Article

      Losing Faith

      Dec 25, 2023

      Losing Faith
      5 min read

    • Article

      You’re Being Manipulated

      Jul 9, 2021

      You’re Being Manipulated
      19 min read

    • Article

      Confusing Populism With Tyranny

      Jul 28, 2022

      THE GREATEST THREAT to human happiness is tyranny. Other dangers, such as Climate Change or Covid-19, may well be fearful, but tyranny does not merely end in the sometimes considerable extinction of life (consider the 45 million deaths caused by Mao’

      4 min read

    • Article

      Human Rights, Not As A Weapon, But For The Common Good

      May 11, 2023

      Rather than contributing to the common good, today’s human rights discourse has become part of the problem. Firstly, it is seriously discredited by its hypocritical, inconsistent and clearly political application, which have made it a very debased cu

      3 min read

    • Article

      Is America A Democracy Or A Republic? Yes It Is

      Sep 10, 2022

      Election denialism has become not only a thing but a movement. And if critics call this an attack on democracy, some election deniers respond by saying the U.S. is not a democracy, it is a republic.

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Monitor Newsroom Debate: Is Democracy A 'Value'?

      Feb 13, 2023

      We are having something of a debate within the Monitor newsroom: Is democracy a value? The literal answer to this question is easy. Democracy is not a value; it is a form of government. But as we explore the values driving news – from respect to equa

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Classical Liberal Diaspora

      Feb 2, 2024

      The Classical Liberal Diaspora
      9 min read

    • Article

      Democracy in Trump’s America

      Sep 1, 2019

      Democracy in Trump’s America
      9 min read

    Reviews for Democracy and Its Crisis

    4/5

    20 ratings15 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      After giving a brief history of democracy and political thought from Plato to the French Revolution, the author moves to the problems of modern democracy. If I understand correctly (this is pretty tough reading) he argues that democracy is in constant danger of falling into either oligarchy or mob rule. He persuasively points to both Brexit and Donald Trump as symptoms of this falling and he's right. I can't find fault with his conclusions, but I have to warn you, this is not an easy read at all and because of that I fear he'll have difficulty finding an audience. A book like this needs to be written for the masses.
    • 4/5
      There could not be a better time for this book. Grayling's book uses political theory from ancient times to present to analyze democracy as a form of government, both the good and the bad. He uses current events to argue that the world's democracies are deteriorating and suggests how the issues democracies face might be solved. I particularly enjoyed his call for civic education, which has been fading from the American education system since the 1980s, to make its resurgence. This book is thoughtful and well-researched, and it is vital for any citizen of a democracy to read this book.
    • 4/5
      The history of democracy is that of a search for a resolution to its inherent dilemma: a government should derive its power from democratic sources, and it should provide sound and responsible governance. Complicating matters, some of the terms we use casually to discuss politics, such as ?liberty? and ?the people,? don?t have clear and agreed definitions. It?s not an easy book to read?most readers will learn new vocabulary?but Democracy and Its Crisis provides a useful intellectual foundation for a discussion of where we find the Western democracies today.Author A.C. Grayling goes deep into the history of dilemma, starting with Plato?s fear that a democracy tends either to devolve into mob rule (which leads to tyranny) or to be captured by a hidden oligarchy. Fully half of the book is a history of the philosophy of democracy, which Grayling frames as an effort to resolve the dilemma. The book is packed with the arguments of deep thinkers, from Plato and Aristotle to Mill and Churchill. The arguments are anything but new.The history section moves to the English, French and American revolutions with a look at how each addressed the dilemma. The solution, as discovered in the debate and implemented imperfectly, is representative government. At this point, the reader learns that some popular critiques of real-world representative governments are based on features that were designed to be less democratic, and therefore more sound. In striving to make government more democratic, they upset the balance that was meant to keep it sober and responsible.At the end of a difficult read that should probably culminate in a final exam or position paper assignment, Grayling turns to contemporary politics in the UK and US. He shows where design compromises intended to lead to sound government have instead turned out impotent, and how populist forces represent the failure to resolve the dilemma?as government becomes more democratic, it becomes less sound. This, in his view, leads to outcomes like Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. Grayling?s proposed solutions come across as thoughtful, conservative and unlikely in the current environment.In all, Democracy and Its Crisis is a solid lesson in how we got here, what we can learn from deep thinkers who went before us, and what might be done to improve things. The analysis needs a popular treatment to reach a wider audience, but its ideas are well worth considering.
    • 4/5
      A fine introduction to the political science of democracy, from Athens to Trump. Grayling is (understandably) strongest rehashing that history. While worthwhile, I'm not sure his recommendations would really change much today. Compulsory voting, extending the franchise to 16 year-olds, and clear information regarding who is funding what will never be a match for populism's siren song I am afraid.
    • 4/5
      This book has a feeling of urgency and seems as though it was almost rushed out now because of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. I say almost because the background and history of Democracy itself shows a lifetime of scholarly research that was at the ready. The author reflects concerns about democracy itself being subverted by partisan groups not representing the actual majority or even super-majority of what he considers the people who should actually be represented.With that as a premise, the criticism of Plato of democracy is given an exposition followed by various remedies through history. Who is to be represented? Is the general population just a mob? How can sustainable government be achieved with an ever changing array of emotions and demands? In the time of Plato, only male citizens among a population of slaves and those not considered otherwise as voting citizens were considered as worthy of a say in governance. Later questions includes a thread of the merits and deficiencies of having a written Constitution. Actually this takes a retrospective view of attempts to address the dilemmas of democracy although there was no sense of inevitability that we should find ourselves where we are today. The line is jagged. We are imposing the route of progress. Historical figures like Locke and Hobbes are obviously some of the contributors who are worthy of note. Less so was what he calls The Putney Debates of 1647. In this Chapter he offers some pointed and stimulating direct quotes of key figures trying to resolve the English Civil War. Indeed, what was to be the role of Charles I and what rights and representation should his subjects have and who were these subjects? Although this did not yet consider the role or rights of women, for instance, who would be represented? He then goes on to look at the role of thinkers who presented possible solutions to the cited shortcomings of democracy by Montesquieu, Rousseau and the astute observations of De Tocqueville on the bold American experiment of a democratic republic. With these thought leaders, as we say now, contributing observations as ideals we are forced to measure our current stumbles.The history is strong but the solutions presented in the book to strengthen and even return to the ideals of democracy are fundamental and not as controversial as the author assumes. Certainly a general civics education of the voter is an ideal but not bold nor controversial. Correcting gerrymandering in both the U.S. and Britain and the role of the whip in British political parties would certainly be desirable for better representation. Controlling the monies spent in political races and having a more unbiased press are commendable goals but finding the will to achieve these is a different matter. Extending the voting age to 16 and introducing mandatory voting do though guarantee controversy.I would recommend this book for a fascinating and succinct history of democracy and analysis of our present shortcomings but as a roadmap to achievable solutions it is wanting.
    • 4/5
      Grayling says representative democracy is a compromise between mob rule and elite rule - and, he says, this compromise has broken both in the UK and USA, as evidenced by the 2016 elections in both nations. The first half of the book is a history of how representative democracy, followed by a description of how it failed, and his prescriptions for correcting it. Despite both halves being nearly equal in length, the second half felt flimsier, more rushed. He makes an interesting argument, it feels like it could have been fleshed out more. Compulsory civic education was not a hard sell for me, compulsory voting, however, needs a bit better argument to convince me than Grayling provides. Definitely an important work right now and worth the read.
    • 4/5
      An important book.....a difficult read, but worth the effort.
    • 4/5
      The history of democracy is that of a search for a resolution to its inherent dilemma: a government should derive its power from democratic sources, and it should provide sound and responsible governance. Complicating matters, some of the terms we use casually to discuss politics, such as “liberty” and “the people,” don’t have clear and agreed definitions. It’s not an easy book to read—most readers will learn new vocabulary—but Democracy and Its Crisis provides a useful intellectual foundation for a discussion of where we find the Western democracies today.Author A.C. Grayling goes deep into the history of dilemma, starting with Plato’s fear that a democracy tends either to devolve into mob rule (which leads to tyranny) or to be captured by a hidden oligarchy. Fully half of the book is a history of the philosophy of democracy, which Grayling frames as an effort to resolve the dilemma. The book is packed with the arguments of deep thinkers, from Plato and Aristotle to Mill and Churchill. The arguments are anything but new.The history section moves to the English, French and American revolutions with a look at how each addressed the dilemma. The solution, as discovered in the debate and implemented imperfectly, is representative government. At this point, the reader learns that some popular critiques of real-world representative governments are based on features that were designed to be less democratic, and therefore more sound. In striving to make government more democratic, they upset the balance that was meant to keep it sober and responsible.At the end of a difficult read that should probably culminate in a final exam or position paper assignment, Grayling turns to contemporary politics in the UK and US. He shows where design compromises intended to lead to sound government have instead turned out impotent, and how populist forces represent the failure to resolve the dilemma—as government becomes more democratic, it becomes less sound. This, in his view, leads to outcomes like Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. Grayling’s proposed solutions come across as thoughtful, conservative and unlikely in the current environment.In all, Democracy and Its Crisis is a solid lesson in how we got here, what we can learn from deep thinkers who went before us, and what might be done to improve things. The analysis needs a popular treatment to reach a wider audience, but its ideas are well worth considering.
    • 4/5
      The first half of this book is a very informative history of the philosophies and key ideas behind the formation of democracies. I found Grayling’s writing style is accessible, clear and focused, especially for writing about philosophy. For someone who has only taken a couple of non-major courses in government, it was interesting and made clear the important theories driving how modern democracies form. The second half of the book, where Grayling delves into what has gone wrong with our democracies, and provides ideas of how to fix them is no less interesting, it’s just not quite as well developed. He has hard facts and figures on Brexit, delineating the problems with the British system. This was very helpful for me as an American who doesn’t know the specifics. However I wish he had provided similar information about the Trump election, which he does not go into in the same detail. I’ve heard the idea that democracy is not the best form of government, just the best one we have yet before, but I commend Graying for formulating ideas on how to fix out democracies. To tell the history of democracy, and also to show what is wrong with our democracies today is the easy part. To actually provide solutions to the problem is more difficult. I just wish he had gone into detail a little bit more. My favorite part of the book was his mention of political inefficacy. The book actually got me interested in learning about politics and being involved more. If it does that for every person that reads the book, I think that Grayling has succeeded in his goal.
    • 4/5
      Using the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. and the U.K. decision to opt out of the European Union (Brexit) as evidence, Grayling describes the impending death throes of Democracy, how and why it has gone wrong, and what is needed to set it right. In Part I, he presents the history and evolution of the form of government we now know as ‘Democracy’. It is a brain bending exercise that goes from broad brush strokes of ancient Greece to excruciating detail of England transitioning from monarchy to representative governance. The author suggests that Part I be bypasses by readers more interested in cutting to the chase than following history’s bouncing ball. It is a worthwhile suggestion. The emphasis on the U.K. experience is, in my opinion, of only peripheral interest to American readers. In Part II, Grayling identifies three reasons things have gone wrong. The first is that politicians and bureaucrats who control the governments have strayed from the intended system; driven by expediency and personal and political party interests. The second reason is that voters are ill prepared and not motivated to actively participate. The third reason is that special interest groups have subverted the process for their own advantage. Recommendations to remedy the situation are mainly centered on the election process. Grayling suggests that campaigning be made more transparent both regarding identification of individuals and groups pushing positions and the sources of campaign funds. He also suggests more rigorous fact checking with penalties imposed for deliberately publishing false information by the press. He feels that voting be mandatory and that the voting age be sixteen with civic education be required by all schools several years before that. A recommendation he makes that goes to the crux of the political process is that means be made to give adherents of losing positions a continuing voice. Grayling makes the point that backers of candidates who lost elections or who supported legislation not enacted are, de facto, disenfranchised. How to implement the recommendation is hard to envision short of requiring all issues be negotiable rather than subjecting to an up-down vote. The book is more an academic exercise than practical advice. The heavy emphasis on the G.B. parliamentary form of government suggests that the American application was scabbed on late in the writing process. Consistent with philosophical works, covering all possible nuances and exceptions—often in the same sentence—makes reading difficult.
    • 4/5
      This book examines the problems in modern Representative Democracies especially as manifested in The United Kingdom and The United States. The author gives a fairly detailed look at the history of the idea of representative democracy and some solutions to fix these problems. The author is British and while claiming to write for both readers in the United States and Great Britain the book’s tone seem to deal more with the situation in Britain rather than the United States. For example in his discussion about how people are disenfranchised, the author does not even mention the problem of how some of those who have been in the prison system have their vote taken away from them. This book is an interesting conversation started and can be a useful addition for those who see that modern democracies are broken and the fundamental changes that are needed to make it work.
    • 4/5
      A. C. Grayling’s book Democracy and Its Crisis focuses on issues in modern democracies – a timely topic indeed. He frames his discussion with an intellectual history of the concept of democracy, which provides a valuable foundation. The book is thought provoking, and adds to the conversation we all need to be having. I would recommend this book to Political Science majors, and anyone who wonders what has been happening in contemporary Western democracies.
    • 4/5
      The crisis from the author’s viewpoint is the rise of factionalism in democracy, evidenced by the 2016 Brexit vote in the UK and the Trump election in the US. Factions exert outsized influence due to structural issues wth how government is implemented and apathy within the electorate. There is a good review of the origins of democracy that provides a basis for proposals such as mandatory voting and constitutional reforms. These reforms are not easy, but this is a compelling topic and a thought provoking book.
    • 4/5
      Democracy is not a fixed state. It is a concept, different to everyone at different times. It is continually evolving. As time goes on and attitudes change, the vote has been given to non-landowners and women, for example. In the original, in ancient Greece, voters had to be white adult male citizens who adhered to the state religion. Not a real democracy, but a good start. Democracy and Its Crisis follows it through its many mutations and variations, from various People’s Republics of Murderous Dictatorship to the ossified, cobweb-encrusted American version, and the hypocritical and fraudulent British version. Most of it is speculation from philosophers, because democracy was not widespread until the last century. So everyone’s concept was valid, if blue-sky. The evidence of its many faults and inconsistencies is plainly out in front of us, and assembling it here points to the staggering failures, inefficiencies and frauds of this best of the worst systems.There is a special condemnation of factions as Madison called what we know as parties. They corrupt the process and the execution, Whips ensure members vote as instructed, and party policy is more important than facts on the ground in the home constituency, or compromise with other parties. It has meant the most qualified steer clear of elected office, leaving voters with poor choices. So fewer and fewer bother to vote at all.Grayling lays out the facts – they are not hard to find. His solutions are all reasonable and essentially impossible. He wants the vote to be mandatory and to begin at 16. He wants civics lessons to begin at 14. He wants proportional representation, because no one represents the voters who did not vote for the winner. That winner usually earns less than half the population and represents nothing. For example, in the Brexit referendum, only 37% of the electorate voted For (ie. Leave), and they represented just 26% of the adult population. So was democracy effective? Grayling would like to ensure it is by adapting the structure to our realities.Because the real crisis of democracy is not fixed, either. It needs constant vigilance to ward off the ever-evolving corruption of parties, lobbies, those with ulterior motives, who have no intention of working for the common good but only to enrich themselves by offering to further enrich the rich, or gerrymandering or constituencies with no voters or that don’t even exist, and so on. It’s a task without end.David Wineberg
    • 4/5
      Anguished by Brexit and Trump, the British philosopher and public intellectual A.C. Grayling has joined the chorus lamenting various perceived deficiencies of democracy as currently practiced in the United Kingdom and the United States. What he writes is not likely to inspire much hope among the many who are similarly concerned.I received a free review copy of Grayling’s Democracy and Its Crisis from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. It begins with 100 pages of a very serviceable history of democratic theory from Plato through Mill. Readers relatively new to the subject will gain a quick education and even specialists are likely to find some fresh substance. That section alone gives sufficient reason to recommend the book.Grayling suggests that the “dilemma of democracy” has long been how to sustain the authority of the many as the source of political legitimacy, without lapsing into either oligarchy or mob rule. Western liberal democracies have devised various means to address it (for example, the separation of powers). Whereas the classical idea was that government should seek the common good, Grayling offers a more modest modern aim: democratic governments should seek to balance plural interests through compromise. He identifies three chief reasons that democracy as practiced in the US and the UK is failing to deliver on its promise to achieve even this more modest goal: 1) flaws in its institutions and practices; 2) limitations in the knowledge and thinking of the electorate; and 3) manipulations of both the institutions and the electorate by partisan interests.Regarding the first of these, flaws in institutions, Grayling emphasizes two undemocratic aspects of both the British Parliament and the US Congress. He does not approve of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) election system where a mere plurality of votes gets a candidate elected, with no proportional representation for the other candidates. Nor does he like the practice of “whipping” members of Parliament or Congress to vote the party line; he thinks they should be freer to think and vote for themselves.Regarding the third reason, the “manipulations,” Grayling does not necessarily object to “special interests” promoting their agendas with government officials, but primarily to how they do it. He highlights certain emerging influencing techniques that he believes to be worsening the situation. These include "Big Data," hacking, and fake news -- each enhances the capability of manipulators to play on voters' emotions. He derides “dark money,” the lack of transparency in political financing.On the limited knowledge and thinking of the electorate, Grayling quotes Jason Brennan, apparently in agreement: "Voters usually do not know the basic facts relevant to the election. They also have silly and mistaken beliefs about the social sciences and suffer from a wide range of cognitive biases that prevent them from thinking clearly about politics.... [I]f voters were better informed they would have different political preferences. They vote the way they vote, and we get the candidates we get, because voters are ignorant, irrational, and misinformed."Grayling wants people to be educated about politics, to make them less vulnerable to demagogic manipulation. Yet he also recommends that voters give more leash to representatives. Not every issue requires significant time and attention from the general electorate, he claims. We all should keep abreast and vote thoughtfully, but "frenetic activity of party politics day in and day out... both numbs and exhausts public interest in government, and thereby does the polity a disservice." So, what is to be done? Grayling proposes several remedies. As suggested above, he advocates proportional voting and less arm twisting to force legislators to adhere to the party line. He would restrict campaign spending. He would expand the electorate down to age 16 and make voting compulsory, along with compulsory civic education in schools. Perhaps his most novel idea is to require systematic fact-checking of the press, with fines for dissemination of deliberate misinformation.Grayling acknowledges that achievement of the reforms he advocates in both the US and Britain would require courage and would be a long process, and he concedes that "the present landscape offers no prospects for such a thing." That is no reason for delay, he contends; we should start now. However, this is no clarion call. He is mostly silent on just what it is we should be doing that would be effective in bringing his proposed reforms about.