Why Politics Fails
The Five Traps of the Modern World & How to Escape Them
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- 10,99 €
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From the 2023 Reith lecturer
Politics is failing us. This is why.
'Brilliant . . . a must-read' Daron Acemoglu, co-author of Why Nations Fail
When it comes to politics, there are five goals that voters generally agree upon. We all want a say in how we're governed, to be treated equally, a safety net when times are hard, protection from harm and to be richer in the future. So, why does politics not deliver that?
The problem is each of these five goals results in a political trap. For example, we all want a say in how we're governed, but it's impossible to have any true 'will of the people'. And we want to be richer tomorrow, but what makes us richer in the short run makes us poorer over the long haul.
In Why Politics Fails, award-winning Oxford professor Ben Ansell draws on examples from Ancient Greece through Brexit to vividly illustrate how we can escape these traps, overcome self-interest and deliver on our collective goals. Politics seems to be broken, but this book shows how it can work for everyone.
'A meticulous study of how different societies find it so difficult to achieve widely shared goals' Financial Times
'Incisive and gripping' Daniel Ziblatt, co-author of How Democracies Die
'Salutary reading for the world we live in now' James A. Robinson, co-author of Why Nations Fails
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Oxford University political scientist Ansell (From the Ballot to the Blackboard) delivers a thought-provoking inquiry into the promises and pitfalls of politics. Contending that people generally want five key things—democracy, equality, solidarity, security, and prosperity—Ansell identifies the fundamental tensions, or traps, that make them difficult to achieve. For example, the "collective goal of equality—to close the chasm between rich and poor" conflicts with the desire "to use our equal rights to live our own best life as freely as possible." The pursuit of prosperity is similarly hamstrung by the disconnect between self-interest and collective goals, and by the lure of short-term economic gains that impoverish the future. Contending that these sorts of tensions are permanent and unavoidable, Ansell proposes political structures and policies designed to help navigate them. Noting the rise of facial recognition software and other surveillance technologies, he calls for the creation of institutions to "balance against those watching us," and cites cross-border laws—which "relied on the reciprocity of Tit for Tat"—developed by rival clans in medieval England and Scotland as an example of how to achieve international cooperation. Throughout, Ansell's deep thinking is balanced by his crisp prose and accessible examples, giving the book the feel of a stimulating college lecture. It's a stellar exposition of a subject that often feels too big to grasp.
