Democracy Unmoored
Populism and the Corruption of Popular Sovereignty
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Democracy Unmoored
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Caffrey
About this listen
The 2016 election of Donald Trump focused people's minds on populism, and most of the attention paid to the subject since has been on the threat it poses to wealthy democracies. In Democracy Unmoored, Samuel Issacharoff takes a far wider-angle view of the phenomenon, covering countries from across the globe: Brazil, Poland, Argentina, Turkey, India, Hungary, Venezuela, and more. Just as importantly, he focuses on populism's attack on the institutions of governance. Democracy requires two critical features: first, a commitment to repeat play such that political actors understand that what goes around comes around; and, second, institutional constraints so that the majority can prevail, albeit not by too much. Democracies must avoid the doomsday scenario in which the contending parties see the next election as the final choice between salvation and perdition. Issacharoff shows how populist governance undermines each of these two critical underpinnings of stable democracy, first by compressing the time horizon to the immediate, and second by eroding institutional constraints on strongman rule. At the same time, Issacharoff highlights the fact that ascendent populists were pushing in an open door as they found democracies in states of disrepair in the post-2008 world.
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 173
The world is in turmoil. From India to Turkey and from Poland to the United States, authoritarian populists have seized power. As a result democracy itself may now be at risk. Two core components of liberal democracy - individual rights and the popular will - are at war with each other. As the role of money in politics soared and important issues were taken out of public contestation, a system of "rights without democracy" took hold. Populists who rail against this say they want to return power to the people. But in practice they create a system of "democracy without rights."
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not worth it
- By DailyShopper on 06-07-18
By: Yascha Mounk
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Temptations of Power
- Islamists & Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East
- By: Shadi Hamid
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4 out of 5 stars 33
In 1989, Francis Fukuyama famously announced the "end of history." The Berlin Wall had fallen; liberal democracy had won out. But what of illiberal democracy - the idea that popular majorities, working through the democratic process, might reject gender equality, religious freedoms, and other norms that Western democracies take for granted? Nowhere have such considerations become more relevant than in the Middle East, where the uprisings of 2011 swept the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups to power.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A new perspective
- By Dave114 on 08-06-18
By: Shadi Hamid
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The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution
- Why Economic Inequality Threatens Our Republic
- By: Ganesh Sitaraman
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
For most of Western history, Sitaraman argues, constitutional thinkers assumed economic inequality was inevitable and inescapable - and they designed governments to prevent class divisions from spilling over into class warfare. The American Constitution is different. Compared to Europe and the ancient world, America was a society of almost unprecedented economic equality, and the founding generation saw this equality as essential for the preservation of America's republic.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very well done
- By JLyman on 08-27-17
By: Ganesh Sitaraman
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The Precipice
- Neoliberalism, the Pandemic and the Urgent Need for Social Change
- By: Noam Chomsky, C.J. Polychroniou
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
In The Precipice, Noam Chomsky sheds light into the phenomenon of Trumpism, exposes the catastrophic nature and impact of Trump's policies on people, the environment, and the planet as a whole, and captures the dynamics of the brutal class warfare launched by the masters of capital to maintain and even enhance the features of a dog-eat-dog society to the unprecedented mobilization of millions of people against neoliberal capitalism, racism, and police violence.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Of Incalculable Importance
- By Anonymous User on 12-15-21
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
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Except for Palestine
- The Limits of Progressive Politics
- By: Marc Lamont Hill, Mitchell Plitnick
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 200
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 183
In this major work of daring criticism and analysis, scholar and political commentator Marc Lamont Hill and Israel-Palestine expert Mitchell Plitnick spotlight how holding fast to one-sided and unwaveringly pro-Israel policies reflects the truth-bending grip of authoritarianism on both Israel and the United States.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Look Into Right Now
- By n.o. on 10-28-23
By: Marc Lamont Hill, and others
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Fear Itself
- The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time
- By: Ira Katznelson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 22 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 142
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 126
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
Redefining our traditional understanding of the New Deal, Fear Itself finally examines this pivotal American era through a sweeping international lens that juxtaposes a struggling democracy with enticing ideologies like Fascism and Communism. Ira Katznelson, "a towering figure in the study of American and European history" (Cornel West), boldly asserts that, during the 1930s and 1940s, American democracy was rescued yet distorted by a unified band of southern lawmakers who safeguarded racial segregation as they built a new national state to manage capitalism and assert global power.
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5 out of 5 stars
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History in Context of Political Science Analysis
- By zsuzsanna on 08-27-15
By: Ira Katznelson
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Right Here, Right Now
- Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption
- By: Stephen J. Harper
- Narrated by: Stephen J. Harper
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 134
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 122
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Story5 out of 5 stars 122
The world is in flux. Disruptive technologies, ideas, and politicians are challenging business models, norms, and political conventions everywhere. How we, as leaders in business and politics, choose to respond matters greatly. Right Here, Right Now sets out a pragmatic, forward-looking vision for leaders in business and politics by analyzing how economic, social, and public policy trends - including globalized movements of capital, goods, and services, and labor - have affected our economies, communities, and governments.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent book on Politics for Canadians AND Americans
- By John Fernandes on 10-19-18
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Our Divided Political Heart
- The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent
- By: E. J. Dionne
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
Our Divided Political Heart will be the must-listen book of the 2012 election campaign. Offering an incisive analysis of how hyper-individualism is poisoning the nation's political atmosphere, E. J. Dionne Jr., argues that Americans can't agree on who we are because we can't agree on who we've been, or what it is, philosophically and spiritually, that makes us Americans.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good points and lots of good information
- By Jamie B on 08-15-12
By: E. J. Dionne
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The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order
- America and the World in the Free Market Era
- By: Gary Gerstle
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
To be sure, neoliberalism has contributed to a number of alarming trends, not least of which has been a massive growth in income inequality. Yet as the eminent historian Gary Gerstle argues in The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order, these indictments fail to reckon with the full contours of what neoliberalism was and why its worldview had such persuasive hold on both the right and the left for three decades.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Cursory, unoriginal, class-blind
- By A Reviewer on 10-24-22
By: Gary Gerstle
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The Age of Illusions
- How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory
- By: Andrew Bacevich
- Narrated by: Andrew Bacevich, Rob Shapiro
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 125
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 108
When the Cold War ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Washington establishment felt it had prevailed in a world-historical struggle. Our side had won, a verdict that was both decisive and irreversible. For the world’s “indispensable nation”, its “sole superpower”, the future looked very bright. History, having brought the United States to the very summit of power and prestige, had validated American-style liberal democratic capitalism as universally applicable.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Needs an update
- By Scott Burton on 05-24-20
By: Andrew Bacevich
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A Lot of People Are Saying
- The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy
- By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, Russell Muirhead
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 104
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 93
Conspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new - conspiracy without theory. And the new conspiracism has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. In A Lot of People Are Saying, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum reveal how the new conspiracism differs from classic conspiracy theory, why so few officials speak truth to conspiracy, and what needs to be done to resist it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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INSIGHTFUL
- By JaredENH on 04-30-19
By: Nancy L. Rosenblum, and others
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Enlightened Democracy
- The Case for the Electoral College, 2nd Edition
- By: Tara Ross
- Narrated by: Tara Ross
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 39
Enlightened Democracy traces the history of the Electoral College from the Constitutional Convention to the present. The Electoral College protects our republic and promotes our liberty. Americans should defend their unique presidential election system at all costs.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Hold your breath
- By Ein on 03-13-20
By: Tara Ross
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Hopes and Prospects
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Brian Jones
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 145
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 107
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 107
In this urgent new book, Noam Chomsky examines the dangers and prospects of our early 21st century. Exploring challenges such as the growing gap between North and South, American exceptionalism (including under President Obama), the fiascos of Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S.-Israeli assault on Gaza, and the recent recent financial bailouts, he also sees hope for the future. Chomsky surveys the democratic wave in Latin America and the growing global solidarity movements.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Intellectual Wind Tunnel
- By Cellar_Door_Books on 04-23-11
By: Noam Chomsky
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To End a Presidency
- By: Laurence Tribe, Joshua Matz
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser, Laurence Tribe - preface
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 173
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 154
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
The history and future of our democracy's ultimate sanction, presidential impeachment, and a guide to how it should be used now. To End a Presidency addresses one of today's most urgent questions: when and whether to impeach a president. Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz provide an authoritative guide to impeachment's past and a bold argument about its proper role today. In an era of expansive presidential power and intense partisanship, we must rethink impeachment for the 21st century.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Primer on Impeachment and our Present Dilemma
- By J.B. on 05-20-18
By: Laurence Tribe, and others
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Why Vote Leave
- By: Daniel Hannan
- Narrated by: Daniel Hannan
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 26
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 23
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Story5 out of 5 stars 22
MEP and award-winning political writer Daniel Hannan argues for a British exit ahead of the coming referendum. Hannan demonstrates that the EU is past its sell-by date, rendered obsolete by technological advances, shrinking economically and less relevant to our economic needs than ever. Worse than that, he shows that the EU can’t reform, can’t be democratic and can’t be divorced from its goal of ever-closer political union.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A MUST READ EVEN AFTER THE REFERENDUM!
- By Christine on 06-28-16
By: Daniel Hannan