Democracy in Retreat
The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Since 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.But 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 democracyin some cases, and whether the decline in global democratization is reversible.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Kurlantzick (Charm Offensive) shows how middle-class citizens quickly become disillusioned with democracy as a form of government when they conflate representative government with rising standards of living and when elections immediately improve economic conditions. Building from disillusionment in the Philippines where street protests were used for regime change he warns that conceptualizing democracy as an American import is a way totalitarian leaders turn citizens against elections, and calls for societies to reclaim democracy as local heritage as a counter. New combinations of economic and political systems are also addressed, such as the Chinese model of capitalism combined with undemocratic rule. Probing for reasons why life might be better under a dictator, he finds "authoritarian nostalgia" arises from needs hierarchies, as when the provision of food trumps a citizen's wish for free speech because there is no guarantee that democracy will deliver food. Speech can also suppress democracy, especially in authoritarian nations; rhetorical wars see dissenters labeled as dangers to stability as acquiescence to Western goals in the War on Terror. The U.S., according to the author, has erroneously used shallow measures of democracy, like elections, to consider countries transformed, when in reality little has changed.
