How Democracy Ends

**How will democracy end? And what will replace it? A preeminent political scientist examines the past, present, and future of an endangered political philosophy**Since the end of World War II, democracy's sweep across the globe seemed inexorable. Yet today, it seems radically imperiled, even in some of the world's most stable democracies. How bad could things get?In__How Democracy Ends__, David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated twentieth-century ideas of democratic failure. By fixating on coups and violence, we are focusing on the wrong threats. Our societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past. We need new ways of thinking the unthinkable--a twenty-first-century vision of the end of democracy, and whether its collapse might allow us to move forward to something better.A provocative book by a major political philosopher,__How Democracy Ends__asks the most trenchant questions that underlie the disturbing patterns of our contemporary political life. "Nothing lasts forever. At some point democracy was always going to pass into the annals of history. But few people around today thought it would happen in their lifetimes. And until very recently almost no one thought it might happen right before our eyes. Now many are asking: Is this how democracy ends? In this surprising and counterintuitive book, the eminent political philosopher David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated modes of thinking. Our expectations are shaped by past stories of democracies collapsing--Europe in the 1930s, Latin America in the 1970s--but we are wrong if we think that history will repeat itself. Western societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past. We need to stop looking for tanks in the streets and start looking for the twenty-first-century symptoms. The real danger to democracy lies in our increasingly decayed institutions. We are more at risk from conmen than from extremists. We are more likely to see our democracy hollowed out by technology than taken over by tyrants. All political systems come to an end. Runciman helps us think about the previously unthinkable: what will democratic failure look like in the twenty-first century? And what will come after?"--Jacket The renowned expert behind the }Talking Politics{ podcast surveys the political situation of the West and offers advice based on the proposition that democracy is collapsing, set to be replaced by a different state of affairs. 'Scintillating ... thought-provoking ... one of the very best of the great crop of recent books on the subject.' Andrew Rawnsley, Observer Democracy has died hundreds of times, all over the world. We think we know what that looks like: chaos descends and the military arrives to restore order, until the people can be trusted to look after their own affairs again. However, there is a danger that this picture is out of date. Until very recently, most citizens of Western democracies would have imagined that the end was a long way off, and very few would have thought it might be happening before their eyes as Trump, Brexit and paranoid populism have become a reality. David Runciman, one of the UK's leading professors of politics, answers all this and more as he surveys the political landscape of the West, helping us to spot the new signs of a collapsing democracy and advising us on what could come next How will democracy end? And what will replace it? A preeminent political scientist examines the past, present, and future of an endangered political philosophy. Since the end of World War II, democracy's sweep across the globe seemed inexorable. Yet today, it seems radically imperiled, even in some of the world's most stable democracies. How bad could things get? In How Democracy Ends , David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated twentieth-century ideas of democratic failure. By fixating on coups and violence, we are focusing on the wrong threats. Our societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past. We need new ways of thinking the unthinkablea twenty-first-century vision of the end of democracy, and whether its collapse might allow us to move forward to something better. A provocative book by a major political philosopher, How Democracy Ends asks the most trenchant questions that underlie the disturbing patterns of our contemporary political life. How will democracy end? And what will replace it? A preeminent political scientist examines the past, present, and future of an endangered political philosophy Since the end of World War II, democracy's sweep across the globe seemed inexorable. Yet today, it seems radically imperiled, even in some of the world's most stable democracies. How bad could things get? In How Democracy Ends, David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated twentieth-century ideas of democratic failure. By fixating on coups and violence, we are focusing on the wrong threats. Our societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past. We need new ways of thinking the unthinkable -- a twenty-first-century vision of the end of democracy, and whether its collapse might allow us to move forward to something better. A provocative book by a major political philosopher, How Democracy Ends asks the most trenchant questions that underlie the disturbing patterns of our contemporary political life. How will democracy end? And what will replace it? A preeminent political scientist examines the past, present, and future of an endangered political philosophySince the end of World War II, democracy's sweep across the globe seemed inexorable. Yet today, it seems radically imperilled, even in some of the world's most stable democracies. How bad could things get? In How Democracy Ends, David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated twentieth-century ideas of democratic failure. By fixating on coups and violence, we are focusing on the wrong threats. Our societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past. We need new ways of thinking the unthinkable--a twenty-first-century vision of the end of democracy, and whether its collapse might allow us to move forward to something better.A provocative book by a major political philosopher, How Democracy Ends asks the most trenchant questions that underlie the disturbing patterns of our contemporary political life. Democracy has died hundreds of times, all over the world. We know what that looks like: chaos descends and the military arrives to restore order, until the people can be trusted to look after their own affairs again. Often, that moment never comes, but there is a danger that this picture is out of date.0Until very recently, most citizens of Western democracies would have imagined that the end was a long way off, and very few would have thought it might be happening before their eyes as Trump, Brexit and paranoid populism have become a reality.0Are we looking for a better way of doing politics, or are we looking for something better than politics? David Runciman, one of the UK's leading professors of politics, answers all this and more as he surveys the political landscape of the West, helping us to recognise the signs of a collapsing democracy and advising us on what comes next "In How Democracy Ends, David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated twentieth-century ideas of democratic failure. By fixating on coups and violence, we are focusing on the wrong threats. Our societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past. We need new ways of thinking the unthinkable--a twenty-first-century vision of the end of democracy, and whether its collapse might allow us to move forward to something better"--Amazon. Preface: Thinking the unthinkable Introduction: 20 January 2017 Coup! Catastrophe! Technological takeover! Something better? Conclusion: This is how democracy ends Epilogue: 20 January 2053.