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Degenerations of Democracy

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Three leading thinkers analyze the erosion of democracy’s social foundations and call for a movement to reduce inequality, strengthen inclusive solidarity, empower citizens, and reclaim pursuit of the public good.

Democracy is in trouble. Populism is a common scapegoat but not the root cause. More basic are social and economic transformations eroding the foundations of democracy, ruling elites trying to lock in their own privilege, and cultural perversions like making individualistic freedom the enemy of democracy’s other crucial ideals of equality and solidarity. In Degenerations of Democracy three of our most prominent intellectuals investigate democracy gone awry, locate our points of fracture, and suggest paths to democratic renewal.

In Charles Taylor’s phrase, democracy is a process, not an end state. Taylor documents creeping disempowerment of citizens, failures of inclusion, and widespread efforts to suppress democratic participation, and he calls for renewing community. Craig Calhoun explores the impact of disruption, inequality, and transformation in democracy’s social foundations. He reminds us that democracies depend on republican constitutions as well as popular will, and that solidarity and voice must be achieved at large scales as well as locally.

Taylor and Calhoun together examine how ideals like meritocracy and authenticity have become problems for equality and solidarity, the need for stronger articulation of the idea of public good, and the challenges of thinking “big” without always thinking “centralization.”

Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar points out that even well-designed institutions will not integrate everyone, and inequality and precarity make matters worse. He calls for democracies to be prepared for violence and disorder at their margins—and to treat them with justice, not oppression.

The authors call for bold action building on projects like Black Lives Matter and the Green New Deal. Policy is not enough to save democracy; it will take movements.

Authors: Taylor Charles, Calhoun Craig, Gaonkar Dilip Parameshwar
Publisher: HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9780674237582
Cover: Hardback
Edition Number: 1
Release Year: 2022
  • Introduction
  • 1. Degenerations of Democracy [Charles Taylor]
  • 2. Contradictions and Double Movements [Craig Calhoun]
  • 3. Compromises with Capitalism [Craig Calhoun]
  • 4. Authenticity and Meritocracy [Craig Calhoun and Charles Taylor]
  • 5. Making the Demos Safe for Democracy? [Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar]
  • 6. The Structure of Democratic Degenerations and the Imperative of Direct Action [Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar]
  • 7. What Is to Be Done? [Craig Calhoun and Charles Taylor]
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Acknowledgments
  • Index

Charles Taylor is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University and author of influential books including Sources of the Self, The Ethics of Authenticity, and A Secular Age. He has received many honors, including the Templeton Prize, the Berggruen Prize, and membership in the Order of Canada.

Patrizia Nanz is the Scientific Director at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies and Professor of Transformative Sustainability Studies at the University of Potsdam. She is coauthor of No Representation without Consultation: A Citizen’s Guide to Participatory Democracy.

Madeleine Beaubien Taylor is the Chief Executive Officer of Network Impact and coauthor of Connecting to Change the World: Harnessing the Power of Networks for Social Impact. She previously taught with the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies at Harvard University.

Craig Calhoun is University Professor of Social Sciences at Arizona State University and was previously Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science and President of the Social Science Research Council. His books include The Roots of Radicalism and Nations Matter.

Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar is Director of the Center for Transcultural Studies and Professor in Rhetoric and Public Culture at Northwestern University, where he also directs the Center for Global Culture and Communication. For many years he was editor of the influential journal Public Culture.

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