Beasts and Gods: How democracy changed its meaning and lost its purpose - Couverture rigide

Fuller, Roslyn

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 178360543X ISBN 13 : 9781783605439

Editeur : Zed Books Ltd, 2015

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Democracy is sold to us on its ability to deliver equal opportunity, and to give every citizen an equal voice. Yet time and again we see that this is not the case: power and spoils alike flow to the few, while the many are left with no recourse. What is wrong with democracy? Nothing, says Roslyn Fuller: what we have simply isn't democracy it s a perversion of it, created by poorly designed electoral systems, weak campaign laws, and broad limitations on participation and representation at nearly every level. Backing her argument with copious empirical data analyzing a wide variety of voting methods across twenty nations, Fuller makes her conclusion irrefutable: if we want true democracy, we have to return to the philosophical insights that originally underpinned it, and thoroughly reexamine the goals and methods of democracy and democratic participation. A radical, damning, yet at the same time fiercely hopeful work, Beasts and Gods aims to reconfigure the very foundations of modern society.

Revue de presse :

Beasts and Gods provides a fascinating contrast between democracy in theory and democracy in practice. It deconstructs the assumptions underlying representative democracy, and debunks the fiction that modern elections are free and fair. This provocative book draws on lessons from ancient Greece, while advocating direct democracy by decoupling economics from politics. --Marjorie Cohn, professor of law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Beasts and Gods is a timely and provocative look behind the clichés of Western politics. It recognises that government of the people, by the people, is not what our current democracies feel like to most of their citizens. Fuller returns to the roots of democracy in classical republican practice and rediscovers the sources of the renewal that is urgently required. Her optimism makes this not just a challenging book but a heartening one. --Fintan O Toole, deputy editor, Irish Times

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Zed Books Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2015
• ISBN 10: 178360543X
• ISBN 13: 9781783605439
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 424