The Case Against Democracy

Download The Case Against Democracy full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online The Case Against Democracy ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

Against Democracy

Author : Jason Brennan
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400888395
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Against Democracy by : Jason Brennan

Download or read book Against Democracy written by Jason Brennan and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bracingly provocative challenge to one of our most cherished ideas and institutions Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They believe people have the right to an equal share of political power. And they believe that political participation is good for us—it empowers us, helps us get what we want, and tends to make us smarter, more virtuous, and more caring for one another. These are some of our most cherished ideas about democracy. But Jason Brennan says they are all wrong. In this trenchant book, Brennan argues that democracy should be judged by its results—and the results are not good enough. Just as defendants have a right to a fair trial, citizens have a right to competent government. But democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, and it all too often falls short. Furthermore, no one has a fundamental right to any share of political power, and exercising political power does most of us little good. On the contrary, a wide range of social science research shows that political participation and democratic deliberation actually tend to make people worse—more irrational, biased, and mean. Given this grim picture, Brennan argues that a new system of government—epistocracy, the rule of the knowledgeable—may be better than democracy, and that it's time to experiment and find out. A challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable, Against Democracy is essential reading for scholars and students of politics across the disciplines. Featuring a new preface that situates the book within the current political climate and discusses other alternatives beyond epistocracy, Against Democracy is a challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable.

The Case against Democracy

Author : Steven Michels
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 442 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (16 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Case against Democracy by : Steven Michels

Download or read book The Case against Democracy written by Steven Michels and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2013-02-20 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The case for democracy is an intrinsic part of our political culture. This non-partisan book provides the other side of the story via well-researched history and current events that illuminate the theory and practice of democracy. Are the politics of the United States to blame for its current unsteady footing in the 21st century? This book aims to answer this uncomfortable but relevant question by examining the strengths and weaknesses of democracy, addressing complex topics such as the history of liberalism, the relationship between democracy and capitalism, the nature of representation, and the difference between government and politics. Each of the book's chapters focuses on a recognized shortcoming of popular government, such as inefficiency, self-interestedness, and non-participation. Each section begins by focusing on current events and tracing issues back through history—through to the American founding, and in many instances, to antiquity. In the conclusion, the author proposes a series of thought-provoking fixes.

Against Elections

Author : David Van Reybrouck
Publisher : Seven Stories Press
ISBN 13 : 1609808118
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (98 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Against Elections by : David Van Reybrouck

Download or read book Against Elections written by David Van Reybrouck and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A small book with great weight and urgency to it, this is both a history of democracy and a clarion call for change. "Without drastic adjustment, this system cannot last much longer," writes Van Reybrouck, regarded today as one of Europe's most astute thinkers. "If you look at the decline in voter turnout and party membership, and at the way politicians are held in contempt, if you look at how difficult it is to form governments, how little they can do and how harshly they are punished for it, if you look at how quickly populism, technocracy and anti-parliamentarianism are rising, if you look at how more and more citizens are longing for participation and how quickly that desire can tip over into frustration, then you realize we are up to our necks." Not so very long ago, the great battles of democracy were fought for the right to vote. Now, Van Reybrouck writes, "it's all about the right to speak, but in essence it's the same battle, the battle for political emancipation and for democratic participation. We must decolonize democracy. We must democratize democracy." As history, Van Reybrouck makes the compelling argument that modern democracy was designed as much to preserve the rights of the powerful and keep the masses in line, as to give the populace a voice. As change-agent, Against Elections makes the argument that there are forms of government, what he terms sortitive or deliberative democracy, that are beginning to be practiced around the world, and can be the remedy we seek. In Iceland, for example, deliberative democracy was used to write the new constitution. A group of people were chosen by lot, educated in the subject at hand, and then were able to decide what was best, arguably, far better than politicians would have. A fascinating, and workable idea has led to a timely book to remind us that our system of government is a flexible instrument, one that the people have the power to change.

The People Have Spoken (and They Are Wrong)

Author : David Harsanyi
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1621572277
Total Pages : 230 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (215 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The People Have Spoken (and They Are Wrong) by : David Harsanyi

Download or read book The People Have Spoken (and They Are Wrong) written by David Harsanyi and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-03-10 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democracy may be one of the most admired ideas ever concocted, but what if it’s also one of the most harebrained? After many years of writing about democracy for a living, David Harsanyi has concluded that it’s the most overrated, overused, and misunderstood idea in political life. The less we have of it the better. “Democracy” is not synonymous with “freedom.” It is not the opposite of tyranny. In fact, the Founding Fathers knew that democracy can lead to tyranny. That’s why they built so many safeguards against it into the Constitution. Democracy, Harsanyi argues, has made our government irrational, irresponsible, and invasive. It has left the American people with only two options—domination by the majority or a government that can’t possibly work. The modern age has imbued democracy with the mystique of infallibility. But Harsanyi reminds us that the vast majority of political philosophers, including the founders, have thought that responsible, limited government based on direct majority rule over a large, let alone continental scale was a practical impossibility. In The People Have Spoken, you’ll learn: Why the Framers of our Constitution were intent on establishing a republic, not a “democracy” How democracy undermines self-government How shockingly out of touch with reality most voters really are Why democracy is an economic wrecking ball—and an invitation to a politics of envy and corruption How the great political philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to Burke and Tocqueville predicted with uncanny accuracy that democracy could lead to tyranny Harsanyi warns that if we don’t recover the Founders’ republican vision, “democracy” might very well spell the end of American liberty and prosperity.

Democracy in Retreat

Author : Joshua Kurlantzick
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 030018896X
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Democracy in Retreat by : Joshua Kurlantzick

Download or read book Democracy in Retreat written by Joshua Kurlantzick and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-19 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVSince the end of the Cold War, the assumption among most political theorists has been that as nations develop economically, they will also become more democratic—especially if a vibrant middle class takes root. This assumption underlies the expansion of the European Union and much of American foreign policy, bolstered by such examples as South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and even to some extent Russia. Where democratization has failed or retreated, aberrant conditions take the blame: Islamism, authoritarian Chinese influence, or perhaps the rise of local autocrats./divDIV /divDIVBut what if the failures of democracy are not exceptions? In this thought-provoking study of democratization, Joshua Kurlantzick proposes that the spate of retreating democracies, one after another over the past two decades, is not just a series of exceptions. Instead, it reflects a new and disturbing trend: democracy in worldwide decline. The author investigates the state of democracy in a variety of countries, why the middle class has turned against democracy in some cases, and whether the decline in global democratization is reversible./div

The Case For Democracy

Author : Natan Sharansky
Publisher : PublicAffairs
ISBN 13 : 0786737069
Total Pages : 219 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Case For Democracy by : Natan Sharansky

Download or read book The Case For Democracy written by Natan Sharansky and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2009-02-23 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natan Sharansky believes that the truest expression of democracy is the ability to stand in the middle of a town square and express one's views without fear of imprisonment. He should know. A dissident in the USSR, Sharansky was jailed for nine years for challenging Soviet policies. During that time he reinforced his moral conviction that democracy is essential to both protecting human rights and maintaining global peace and security. Sharansky was catapulted onto the Israeli political stage in 1996. In the last eight years, he has served as a minister in four different Israeli cabinets, including a stint as Deputy Prime Minister, playing a key role in government decision making from the peace negotiations at Wye to the war against Palestinian terror. In his views, he has been as consistent as he has been stubborn: Tyranny, whether in the Soviet Union or the Middle East, must always be made to bow before democracy. Drawing on a lifetime of experience of democracy and its absence, Sharansky believes that only democracy can safeguard the well-being of societies. For Sharansky, when it comes to democracy, politics is not a matter of left and right, but right and wrong. This is a passionately argued book from a man who carries supreme moral authority to make the case he does here: that the spread of democracy everywhere is not only possible, but also essential to the survival of our civilization. His argument is sure to stir controversy on all sides; this is arguably the great issue of our times.

Growth Against Democracy

Author : H. L. T. Quan
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739170597
Total Pages : 269 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Growth Against Democracy by : H. L. T. Quan

Download or read book Growth Against Democracy written by H. L. T. Quan and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growth against Democracy: Savage Developmentalism in the Modern World, by H.L.T. Quan, is a radical critique of development as a modern project. Using three historical cases (Brazil-Japan, China-Africa, and US-Iraq), Quan probes the discursive practices of modern development, exploring the coercive and juridical dimensions of trade, diplomacy and war and their impact. This study builds on the critical works of neoliberalism, capitalist development, and empire to lay the groundwork for an honest assessment of neoliberal economics and foreign conducts and their impact on human life.

Democracy and Political Ignorance

Author : Ilya Somin
Publisher : Stanford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0804789312
Total Pages : 277 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (47 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Democracy and Political Ignorance by : Ilya Somin

Download or read book Democracy and Political Ignorance written by Ilya Somin and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-02 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the biggest problems with modern democracy is that most of the public is usually ignorant of politics and government. Often, many people understand that their votes are unlikely to change the outcome of an election and don't see the point in learning much about politics. This may be rational, but it creates a nation of people with little political knowledge and little ability to objectively evaluate what they do know. In Democracy and Political Ignorance, Ilya Somin mines the depths of ignorance in America and reveals the extent to which it is a major problem for democracy. Somin weighs various options for solving this problem, arguing that political ignorance is best mitigated and its effects lessened by decentralizing and limiting government. Somin provocatively argues that people make better decisions when they choose what to purchase in the market or which state or local government to live under, than when they vote at the ballot box, because they have stronger incentives to acquire relevant information and to use it wisely.

Democracy for Realists

Author : Christopher H. Achen
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400888743
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Democracy for Realists by : Christopher H. Achen

Download or read book Democracy for Realists written by Christopher H. Achen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-29 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why our belief in government by the people is unrealistic—and what we can do about it Democracy for Realists assails the romantic folk-theory at the heart of contemporary thinking about democratic politics and government, and offers a provocative alternative view grounded in the actual human nature of democratic citizens. Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels deploy a wealth of social-scientific evidence, including ingenious original analyses of topics ranging from abortion politics and budget deficits to the Great Depression and shark attacks, to show that the familiar ideal of thoughtful citizens steering the ship of state from the voting booth is fundamentally misguided. They demonstrate that voters—even those who are well informed and politically engaged—mostly choose parties and candidates on the basis of social identities and partisan loyalties, not political issues. They also show that voters adjust their policy views and even their perceptions of basic matters of fact to match those loyalties. When parties are roughly evenly matched, elections often turn on irrelevant or misleading considerations such as economic spurts or downturns beyond the incumbents' control; the outcomes are essentially random. Thus, voters do not control the course of public policy, even indirectly. Achen and Bartels argue that democratic theory needs to be founded on identity groups and political parties, not on the preferences of individual voters. Now with new analysis of the 2016 elections, Democracy for Realists provides a powerful challenge to conventional thinking, pointing the way toward a fundamentally different understanding of the realities and potential of democratic government.

The People Vs. Democracy

Author : Yascha Mounk
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674976827
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (749 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The People Vs. Democracy by : Yascha Mounk

Download or read book The People Vs. Democracy written by Yascha Mounk and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-05 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uiteenzetting over de opkomst van het populisme en het gevaar daarvan voor de democratie.

Organizing Against Democracy

Author : Antonis A. Ellinas
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108244513
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (82 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Organizing Against Democracy by : Antonis A. Ellinas

Download or read book Organizing Against Democracy written by Antonis A. Ellinas and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-30 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Organizing Against Democracy investigates some of the most important challenges modern democracies face, filling a distinctive gap in the literature, both empirically and theoretically. Ellinas examines the attempts of three of the most extreme European far-right parties to establish roots in local societies, and the responses of democratic actors. He offers a theory of local party development to analyze the many factors affecting the evolution of far-right parties at the subnational level. Using extraordinarily rich data, the author examines the 'lives' of local far-right party organizations in Greece, Germany and Slovakia, studying thousands of party activities and interviewing dozens of party leaders and functionaries, and antifascists. He goes on to explore how and why extreme parties succeed in some local settings while, in others, they fail. This book broadens our understanding of right-wing extremism, illuminating the factors limiting its corrosiveness.

The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy

Author : David Estlund
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199704058
Total Pages : 456 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy by : David Estlund

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy written by David Estlund and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-21 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Even though political philosophy has a long tradition, it is much more than the study of old and great treatises. Contemporary philosophers continue to press new arguments on old and timeless questions, but also to propose departures and innovations. The field changes over time, and new work inevitably responds both to events in the world and to the directions of thought itself. This volume includes 22 new pieces by leaders in the field on both perennial and emerging topics of keen interest to contemporary political philosophers. In addition to longstanding issues such as Authority, Equality, and Freedom, and Democracy, there are articles on less classical topics such as Race, Historical Injustice, Deliberation, Money and Politics, Global Justice, and Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory. All of the pieces combine clarity and accessibility with a top scholar's critical and original point of view. The introductory essay briefly situates this snapshot of the state of the art in a broader view of developments in political philosophy in the last 40 years, and looks forward to future developments. Students and scholars alike will find the pieces to be valuable not only surveys but as provocations to think further about the questions, puzzles, and practical problems that animate recent work in political philosophy. The issues will be of interest to many working in philosophy, political science, law, economics, and more.

Democracy Against Itself

Author : Mark Chou
Publisher : Edinburgh University Press
ISBN 13 : 0748681892
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (486 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Democracy Against Itself by : Mark Chou

Download or read book Democracy Against Itself written by Mark Chou and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2014-06-18 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do some democracies self-destruct? Using the collapse of democracy in ancient Athens and the Weimar Republic, as well as the uncertain fate of democratic rule in the United States and China today as illustrative examples, Mark Chou examines the conditions and characteristics of democracy that make it prone to self-destruct. In drawing out the political lessons from these past collapses, he explains how a democracy can, simply by being democratic, sow the seeds of its own destruction.

Democratic Reason

Author : Hélène Landemore
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691155658
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Democratic Reason by : Hélène Landemore

Download or read book Democratic Reason written by Hélène Landemore and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Individual decision making can often be wrong due to misinformation, impulses, or biases. Collective decision making, on the other hand, can be surprisingly accurate. In Democratic Reason, Hélène Landemore demonstrates that the very factors behind the superiority of collective decision making add up to a strong case for democracy. She shows that the processes and procedures of democratic decision making form a cognitive system that ensures that decisions taken by the many are more likely to be right than decisions taken by the few. Democracy as a form of government is therefore valuable not only because it is legitimate and just, but also because it is smart. Landemore considers how the argument plays out with respect to two main mechanisms of democratic politics: inclusive deliberation and majority rule. In deliberative settings, the truth-tracking properties of deliberation are enhanced more by inclusiveness than by individual competence. Landemore explores this idea in the contexts of representative democracy and the selection of representatives. She also discusses several models for the "wisdom of crowds" channeled by majority rule, examining the trade-offs between inclusiveness and individual competence in voting. When inclusive deliberation and majority rule are combined, they beat less inclusive methods, in which one person or a small group decide. Democratic Reason thus establishes the superiority of democracy as a way of making decisions for the common good.

Backsliding

Author : Stephan Haggard
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108962874
Total Pages : 122 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (89 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Backsliding by : Stephan Haggard

Download or read book Backsliding written by Stephan Haggard and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-11 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Assaults on democracy are increasingly coming from the actions of duly elected governments, rather than coups. Backsliding examines the processes through which elected rulers weaken checks on executive power, curtail political and civil liberties, and undermine the integrity of the electoral system. Drawing on detailed case studies, including the United States and countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa, the book focuses on three, inter-related causal mechanisms: the pernicious effects of polarization; realignments of party systems that enable elected autocrats to gain legislative power; and the incremental nature of derogations, which divides oppositions and keeps them off balance. A concluding chapter looks at the international context of backsliding and the role of new technologies in these processes. An online appendix provides detailed accounts of backsliding in 16 countries, which can be found at www.cambridge.org/backsliding.

Digital Disconnect

Author : Robert W. McChesney
Publisher : New Press, The
ISBN 13 : 1595588914
Total Pages : 319 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (955 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Digital Disconnect by : Robert W. McChesney

Download or read book Digital Disconnect written by Robert W. McChesney and published by New Press, The. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Celebrants and skeptics alike have produced valuable analyses of the Internet's effect on us and our world, oscillating between utopian bliss and dystopian hell. But according to Robert W. McChesney, arguments on both sides fail to address the relationship between economic power and the digital world. McChesney's award-winning Rich Media, Poor Democracy skewered the assumption that a society drenched in commercial information is a democratic one. In Digital Disconnect McChesney returns to this provocative thesis in light of the advances of the digital age, incorporating capitalism into the heart of his analysis. He argues that the sharp decline in the enforcement of antitrust violations, the increase in patents on digital technology and proprietary systems, and other policies and massive indirect subsidies have made the Internet a place of numbing commercialism. A small handful of monopolies now dominate the political economy, from Google, which garners an astonishing 97 percent share of the mobile search market, to Microsoft, whose operating system is used by over 90 percent of the world's computers. This capitalistic colonization of the Internet has spurred the collapse of credible journalism, and made the Internet an unparalleled apparatus for government and corporate surveillance, and a disturbingly anti-democratic force. In Digital Disconnect Robert McChesney offers a groundbreaking analysis and critique of the Internet, urging us to reclaim the democratizing potential of the digital revolution while we still can.

How Democracies Die

Author : Steven Levitsky
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 1524762946
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (247 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis How Democracies Die by : Steven Levitsky

Download or read book How Democracies Die written by Steven Levitsky and published by Crown. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Time • Foreign Affairs • WBUR • Paste Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one. Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved. Praise for How Democracies Die “What we desperately need is a sober, dispassionate look at the current state of affairs. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two of the most respected scholars in the field of democracy studies, offer just that.”—The Washington Post “Where Levitsky and Ziblatt make their mark is in weaving together political science and historical analysis of both domestic and international democratic crises; in doing so, they expand the conversation beyond Trump and before him, to other countries and to the deep structure of American democracy and politics.”—Ezra Klein, Vox “If you only read one book for the rest of the year, read How Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . . The best commentary on our politics, no contest.”—Michael Morrell, former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (via Twitter) “A smart and deeply informed book about the ways in which democracy is being undermined in dozens of countries around the world, and in ways that are perfectly legal.”—Fareed Zakaria, CNN