Democracy and Its Crisis

by A. C. Grayling

Overview

The EU referendum in the UK and Trump’s victory in the USA sent shockwaves through our democratic systems. In Democracy and Its Crisis A. C. Grayling investigates why the institutions of representative democracy seem unable to hold up against forces they were designed to manage, and why it matters.

First he considers those moments in history when the challenges we face today were first encountered and what solutions were found. Then he lays bare the specific threats facing democracy today.

The paperback edition includes new material on the reforms that are needed to make our system truly democratic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786074065
Publisher:	Oneworld Publications
Publication date:	11/26/2018
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition vii

Preface ix

Introduction 1

Part I

1 The History of the Dilemma Part I: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli 15

2 The History of the Dilemma Part II: The Putney Debates, 1647 33

3 The Beginnings of a Solution Part I: Locke, Hobbes, Spinoza 49

4 The Beginnings of a Solution Part II: Montesquieu, Rousseau 67

5 Solutions Proposed Part I: Madison, Constant 76

6 Solutions Proposed Part II: De Tocqueville, Mill 94

Part II

7 Alternative Democracies and Anti-democracies 109

8 Why It Has Gone Wrong 131

9 Making Representative Government Work 153

10 The People and the Constitution 164

Conclusion 181

Appendix I Brexit 189

Appendix II The Failure of Democracy Elsewhere 199

Appendix III Taking Reform Further 203

Bibliography 209

Notes 213

Index 223

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"In an excoriating forthcoming book, Democracy and Its Crisis, AC Grayling charts the way that American and British democracy…has become flabby, corrupt and hollowed out by narrow vested interests, big money and unrepresentative elites." —Nick Clegg in The Independent

former CIA and NSA director Gen. (ret.) Michael Hayden

“Democracy and Its Crisis,” by A.C. Grayling, British philosopher, historian and recent guest at George Mason’s Hayden Center. A fast and fascinating read—especially for philosophy—about the origins of democracy, its challenges and what we might do to preserve it. Clear thinking about first principles has never been more needed and Grayling delivers.

Editorial Reviews

‘We are mystified, alarmed, even frightened by the cascade of events that beset our world. A. C. Grayling not only clarifies the way in which these events are challenging the workings of democracy – amid the rise in populism in response – but comes up with solutions.’

Jon Snow

‘Grayling incisively surveys attempts by Western thinkers, from Plato and Aristotle to Madison and Tocqueville, to resolve what he calls the “dilemma of democracy”: the tension between the belief that power belongs ultimately to the people, and the desire for stable and humane government.’

Wall Street Journal

‘A. C. Grayling applies his great intellectual prowess to the most pressing issue of our times – the subversion of modern democracies by dark money, corporate power, Big Data, social media and fractured political party systems. Utterly brilliant. Urgently needed. A book for NOW.’

QC Helena Kennedy

‘A compelling and deeply unsettling dissection of the way in which democratic principles have been subverted by vested interests in the UK and the USA. This book shows that democracy can only be defended if we first understand how it is being attacked.’

Nick Clegg

‘A concise, clear and challenging survey of the history of democracy, its recent failures and how we might repair it.’

Shelf Awareness

‘Grayling incisively surveys attempts by Western thinkers, from Plato and Aristotle to Madison and Tocqueville, to resolve what he calls the “dilemma of democracy”: the tension between the belief that power belongs ultimately to the people, and the desire for stable and humane government.’

Wall Street Journal

"Grayling is a natural educator . . . He provides concise and helpful summaries of pertinent events and ideas."

— The Spectator

"In an excoriating forthcoming book, Democracy and Its Crisis, AC Grayling charts the way that American and British democracy…has become flabby, corrupt and hollowed out by narrow vested interests, big money and unrepresentative elites."

—Nick Clegg in The Independent

"...Grayling is right. The thought that plutocrats and oligarchs can fix what needs mending, or do anything much about the economic inequalities that have always threatened political stability, is difficult to countenance. In fact, it seems inconceivable."


—The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

PRAISE FOR THE GOD ARGUMENT (2013)
"Debunks the teleological, ontological and cosmological arguments employed throughout Christendom for the literal existence of God. Those looking for a succinct analysis of these centuries old debates will appreciate Grayling's insights."

"On Faith" — The Washington Post

PRAISE FOR THE GOD ARGUMENT (2013)
"Debunks the teleological, ontological and cosmological arguments employed throughout Christendom for the literal existence of God. Those looking for a succinct analysis of these centuries old debates will appreciate Grayling's insights."

"On Faith" The Washington Post

2017-08-07
Of democracy and its discontents, with a resonant defense of what Winston Churchill called "the least bad of all systems."Two recent developments, writes Grayling (Philosophy/New Coll. of the Humanities, London; War: An Enquiry, 2017, etc.), indicate that "something has gone seriously wrong in the state of democracy": Britain's Brexit referendum, in which, by the author's account, a minority partisan group superseded the interests of the entire polity, and the election of Donald Trump, the product of an outmoded Electoral College system that had the same effect. As the author notes, democracy is not just the notion that the people are the source of consent to govern and the ultimate sovereigns, but the arrangement of constitutional accords and institutions so that everyone's interest is represented, along with guarantees of civil liberties and a strong commitment to the rule of law and the idea that the law applies equally to everyone. "Each vote should have equal weight," Grayling ventures, noting that in both the U.S. and Britain, as well as elsewhere, this foundational principle is under attack. Surveying ancient ideas of democracy and their reformulation in the contending philosophies of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, among others, Grayling examines the benefits and contradictions of popular sovereignty—which, he notes, really means in the U.K. that the Parliament is sovereign, since "there is no power in the land—not the Crown, not the courts—which can overrule it, other than itself." In this respect, the American system of checks and balances is more than a nicety. Grayling concludes his argument, lucid if at times a touch technical, with specific recommendations for reform, including "complete transparency about the funding involved in an election campaign" and universal suffrage at the age of 16—as well as mandatory voting. A compelling book worthy of being shelved alongside the Federalist Papers and Two Treatises of Government.

Kirkus Reviews