How Democracy Ends
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How Democracy Ends
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Narrated by:
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David Runciman
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By:
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David Runciman
About this listen
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In How Democracy Ends, David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated 20th-century ideas of democratic failure.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 21st-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.
©2018 David Runciman (P)2018 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"How Democracy Ends is a thorough study of democracy and its trials and tribulations on approaching midlife. Inhabitants have enjoyed its fruits: freedom, prosperity, and longevity. Democracy offers us opportunities to do exciting things." (New York Journal of Books)
"What kills democracies? And, when they're dead, what replaces them? In this bracing reckoning, the brilliant David Runciman asks a series of questions whose answers take him from Hobbes to Gandhi, from the Colosseum to Facebook. A searching and urgent book." (Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United States)
"Those who welcome encouragement to consider all sides and avoid jumping to conclusions...will find this a reasoned and balanced analysis of the political moment." (Publishers Weekly)
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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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When the Facts Change
- Essays, 1995-2010
- By: Tony Judt
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
In When the Facts Change, Tony Judt's widow and fellow historian Jennifer Homans has assembled an essential collection of the most important and influential pieces written in the last 15 years of Judt's life, the years in which he found his voice in the public sphere. Included are seminal essays on the full range of Judt's concerns, including Europe as an idea and in reality, before 1989 and thereafter; Israel, the Holocaust and the Jews; American hyperpower and the world after 9/11.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Essential
- By Herman Utik on 09-19-16
By: Tony Judt
-
Decline and Fall
- The End of Empire and the Future of Democracy in 21st Century America
- By: John Michael Greer
- Narrated by: Kristoffer Tabori
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 131
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
The decline and fall of America's global empire is the central feature of today's geopolitical landscape, and the nature of our response to it will determine much of our future trajectory, with implications that reach far beyond the limits of one nation's borders. Decline and Fall: The End of Empire and the Future of Democracy in 21st Century America challenges the conventional wisdom of empire, using a wealth of historical examples combined with groundbreaking original analysis.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Will insist friends & family read this book
- By Paul on 05-14-16
-
The New Road to Serfdom
- A Letter of Warning to America
- By: Daniel Hannan
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 101
In The New Road to Serfdom, British conservative Daniel Hannan argues forcefully and passionately that Americans must not allow Barack Obama to take us down the road to EU-style social democracy. Instead, he pleads with Americans not to abandon the founding principles that made their country a beacon of liberty for the rest of the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
An excellent read from a brilliant man...
- By Martin on 10-30-11
By: Daniel Hannan
-
A Journey
- My Political Life
- By: Tony Blair
- Narrated by: Tony Blair
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 262
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 139
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 138
This is Tony Blair’s firsthand account of his years in office and beyond. Here he describes for the first time his role in shaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death to the war on terror. He reveals the decisions necessary to reinvent his party, the relationships with colleagues including Gordon Brown, the negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland, the implementation of the biggest reforms to public services in Britain since 1945, and his relationships with leaders on the world stage.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
History can only ever be accepted judgments
- By W. J. Young on 09-14-10
By: Tony Blair
-
Winter Is Coming
- Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped
- By: Garry Kasparov
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 983
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 882
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 881
The ascension of Vladimir Putin - a former lieutenant colonel of the KGB - to the presidency of Russia in 1999 should have been a signal that the country was headed away from democracy. Yet in the intervening years - as America and the world's other leading powers have continued to appease him - Putin has grown into not only a dictator but a global threat. With his vast resources and nuclear weapons, Putin is at the center of a worldwide assault on political liberty.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A polemic against Putin
- By David on 05-27-16
By: Garry Kasparov
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America in Retreat
- The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder
- By: Bret Stephens
- Narrated by: Bret Stephens, Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 137
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
America in Retreat identifies a profound crisis on the global horizon. As Americans seek to withdraw from the world to tend to domestic problems, America’s adversaries spy opportunity. Vladimir Putin's ambitions to restore the glory of the czarist empire go effectively unchecked, as do China's attempts to expand its maritime claims in the South China Sea, as do Iran's efforts to develop nuclear capabilities.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The Burden of American Exceptionalism
- By Harry Paget on 08-15-15
By: Bret Stephens
-
The Jungle Grows Back
- America and Our Imperiled World
- By: Robert Kagan
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 279
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 245
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 242
Recent years have brought deeply disturbing developments around the globe. American sentiment seems to be leaning increasingly toward withdrawal in the face of such disarray. In this powerful, urgent essay, Robert Kagan elucidates the reasons why American withdrawal would be the worst possible response, based as it is on a fundamental and dangerous misreading of the world. Like a jungle that keeps growing back after being cut down, the world has always been full of dangerous actors who, left unchecked, possess the desire and ability to make things worse.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Out of date: covid, Trump nobel nominations etc
- By David on 11-13-18
By: Robert Kagan
-
Flashpoints
- The Emerging Crisis in Europe
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk, George Friedman
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 754
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 651
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 657
George Friedman has forecasted the coming trends (politics, technology, population, and culture) of the next century in The Next 100 Years, and focused his predictions on the coming ten years in The Next Decade. Now, in Flashpoints, Friedman zooms in on the region that has, for 500 years, been the cultural hotbed of the world - Europe - and examines the most basic and fascinating building block of the region: culture.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Important Reading: Old Grievances Do Not Go Away
- By John on 02-21-15
By: George Friedman
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Blood Oil
- Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules That Run the World
- By: Leif Wenar
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 101
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 94
Natural resources empower the world's most coercive men. Autocrats like Putin and the Saudis spend oil money on weapons and repression. ISIS and Congo's militias spend resource money on atrocities and ammunition. For decades resource-fueled authoritarians and extremists have forced endless crises on the West - and the ultimate source of their resource money is us, paying at the gas station and the mall.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Caveat: Human beings -- Totally untrustworthy
- By lost the power cord could you send me another cord address 13 east wilmont ave somers point nj 08244 on 05-17-16
By: Leif Wenar
-
America
- Imagine a World Without Her
- By: Dinesh D'Souza
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,100
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 987
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 979
Is America a source of pride, as Americans have long held, or shame, as Progressives allege? Beneath an innocent exterior, are our lives complicit in a national project of theft, expropriation, oppression, and murder? Or is America still the hope of the world? New York Times best-selling author Dinesh D'Souza says these questions are no mere academic exercise.
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5 out of 5 stars
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We can think for ourselves
- By score bags on 06-21-14
By: Dinesh D'Souza
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
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
-
Creating Freedom
- The Lottery of Birth, the Illusion of Consent, and the Fight for Our Future
- By: Raoul Martinez
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 17 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 35
A manifesto for deep and radical change, Creating Freedom explores the limits placed on freedom by human nature and society. It explodes myths, calling for a profound transformation in the way we think about democracy, equality, and our own identities.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
The BEST book, I've listened to in a long time
- By G. Newton on 04-16-17
By: Raoul Martinez
-
Understanding Power
- The Indispensable Chomsky
- By: Noam Chomsky, John Schoeffel - editor, Peter R. Mitchell - editor
- Narrated by: Robin Bloodworth
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,959
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,676
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,655
A major new collection from "arguably the most important intellectual alive" ( The New York Times). Noam Chomsky is universally accepted as one of the preeminent public intellectuals of the modern era. Over the past thirty years, broadly diverse audiences have gathered to attend his sold-out lectures. Now, in Understanding Power, Peter Mitchell and John Schoeffel have assembled the best of Chomsky's recent talks on the past, present, and future of the politics of power.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Current times demand you get this into your head.
- By Comatoso on 08-12-15
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
-
The Weaponisation of Everything
- A Field Guide to the New Way of War
- By: Mark Galeotti
- Narrated by: Mark Galeotti
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 74
Hybrid war, grey-zone warfare, unrestricted war: Today, traditional conflict - fought with guns, bombs, and drones - has become too expensive to wage, too unpopular at home, and too difficult to manage. In an age when America threatens Europe with sanctions, and when China spends billions buying influence abroad, the world is heading for a new era of permanent low-level conflict, often unnoticed, undeclared, and unending.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Clear, concise, and thought provoking
- By Dad / Husband (who rarely reviews) on 03-08-22
By: Mark Galeotti
-
The Square and the Tower
- Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Elliot Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,018
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 878
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 871
Most history is hierarchical: it's about emperors, presidents, prime ministers, and field marshals. It's about states, armies, and corporations. It's about orders from on high. Even history "from below" is often about trade unions and workers' parties. But what if that's simply because hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on? What if we are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change?
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Not his best by a long chalk: Read Steven Pinker.
- By David on 02-05-18
By: Niall Ferguson
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Disappointing
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