The authors of all these recent books and of long articles in major news outlets ask almost daily: what can be done? Can democracy be saved?
Polls everywhere show a massive loss of public trust in democracy as a form of government. So the publishing industry is in accord: Democracy – both its guiding ideals and particular instantiations – is either in crisis or on its deathbed. And that’s on top of books already on my desk-side shelf: How Democracies End, How Democracies Die, The People Vs Democracy, Against Democracy.
I recently typed the words ‘Democracy Crisis’ into Amazon Search, and an avalanche of new and forthcoming titles tumbled onto my screen: Democracy in Crisis, The Crisis of Democracy, Democracy in Crisis?, Constitutional Democracy in Crisis.