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Maybe someday
39
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
4/100Critics
15/100Scholars
97/100Author:
Jan-Werner Müller
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date:
July 6, 2021
A Princeton University social sciences professor explains how democracy is founded not just on liberty and equality, but also on uncertainty. He suggests concretely how democracy's critical infrastructure of intermediary institutions could be renovated, re-empowering citizens while also preserving a place for professionals such as journalists and judges.
What The Reviewers Say
... [an] important book.
... lively.
The truths Müller expounds may well be self-evident, and they are worthy goals for Western democracies presently roiled by crises of legitimacy and longer-term policy drift—but Müller’s analysis rarely engages with the root causes of these crises. He proposes procedural fixes that are well-considered but leaves them largely to float in a conceptual and ideological vacuum. Populism is the villain of this book. But that may be largely because it misconstrues a tradition that could revitalize democracy.
Unlike many others in the democracy-at-risk school, Müller provides a somewhat reassuring perspective by emphasizing that conflict and uncertainty are part of the dynamism of democracy itself..
