How Democracy Ends (Broché)

Democracy has died hundreds of times. We think we know what this looks like : chaos descends and the military arrives to restore order until the people can be trusted to look after their own affairs again — if that day ever comes. But perhaps we are focusing on the wrong threats. This incisive book surveys the political landscape of the West, and shows us how to spot the signs of trouble ahead. Our societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past.
History never repeats itself. Instead, it is decaying institutions that pose a treat to the future of our democracies. All political systems come to an end. David Runciman, one of the UK's leading political scientists and the host of the popular podcast Talking Politics, addresses the problem with verve and rigour and helps us to think about the previously unthinkable : what will democratic failure mean in the twenty-first century ? Might there be something better after democracy ?