Restoring Democracy in an Age of Populists and Pestilence
by Jonathan Manthorpe
ISBN: 9781770865822
Format: Trade Paperback w/ Flaps
Size: 6" x 9"
Subjects:
POL003000 POLITICAL SCIENCE / Civics & Citizenship
POL065000 POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Media & Internet
PHI01900 / PHILOSOPHY / Political
Price: $24.95
Publication Date: August 29, 2020
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Synopsis:
From author of the Globe and Mail bestseller, Claws of the Panda, comes a book quite literally for our times, a thoughtful account of how we can save democracies from the despots and populists who provide the easy answers to complicated situations, dumbing political discourse down to sandbox antics.
Manthorpe argues that democracy is more resilient than it appears, and is capable of overcoming the attacks from within and without that have sapped its vigour since the end of the Cold War. Russia and China have met with considerable success in their attacks on democracy. As well, internal pressures and contradictions — wealth disparity chief among them –feed the populists who spout platitudes to abandoned workers without actually offering them ways to catch up. Adding to the pressures building on the political norms of our democracies, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a kind of economic and social stand-still for which no country is prepared.
Restoring Democracy sets out the key dangers and what we — as individuals as well as societies — can do to protect it.
Reviews
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“This global affairs veteran has carved out a solid, mature path, including for ‘flawed democracies’ like the U.S. We’d all be wise to follow.”
— Vancouver Sun
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“Manthorpe has done an excellent job of detailing the problems, and pointing to some hopeful directions, all written with the clarity, severity and authority of an excellent journalist.”
— Robin Sears, Policy Magazine
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“[Restoring Democracy in an Age of Populists and Pestilence] couldn’t be more current, more prescient.”
- Pamela Wallin, No Nonsense with Pamela Wallin
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“[Restoring Democracy in an Age of Populists and Pestilence] is an extraordinary feat of endurance journalism born from years of watching democratic facades crack, and made even more urgent by the threat of COVID-19, which [Manthorpe] describes as a new ‘central player’ in democracy’s larger story.”
- Marlo Alexandra Burks, Literary Review of Canada
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