Rethinking Democracy

by Gamble, Andrew; Wright, Tony

• ISBN13: 9781119554226
• ISBN10: 1119554225
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2018-12-26
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

"There's never been a more pressing time to question every aspect of our inadequate democracy"- Polly Toynbee

"This important book shows the many challenges democracy faces in a world of populism and radical digital change" - Margaret Hodge

2018 saw celebrations of the centenary of the Representation of the People Act which marked a decisive step towards full universal suffrage - this collection of essays explores the problems of democracy and suggests ways it might now be extended and deepened.

• Investigates if democracy is an unfinished revolution and if democratic politics is currently in retreat
• Demonstrates how democratic politics is once again under attack - this time from populist nationalists, authoritarian rulers and new forms of political communication
• Argues that if we lose the art of active citizenship, we will lose the freedoms and the rights which democracy has bestowed

Author Biography

Andrew Gamble is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield and Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge. His most recent books are Can the Welfare State Survive? (2016) and Politics: Why it Matters (forthcoming 2019). In 2005 he received the Isaiah Berlin Prize from the UK Political Studies Association for lifetime contribution to political studies.

Tony Wright is a former Labour MP and former editor of The Political Quarterly, now Professor of Government and Public Policy at University College London. He is currently preparing a new edition of his British Politics: A Very Short Introduction.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors
1. Rethinking Democracy: Introduction (ANDREW GAMBLE and TONY WRIGHT)
2. Democracy and its Discontents (TONY WRIGHT)
3. Feminist Reflections on Representative Democracy (JONI LOVENDUSKI)
4. Why is Democracy so Surprising? (DAVID RUNCIMAN)
5. Constitutional Reform: Death, Rebirth and Renewal (VERNON BOGDANOR)
6. Three Types of Majority Rule (ALBERT WEALE)
7. Rethinking Political Communication (ALAN FINLAYSON)
8. Protecting Democratic Legitimacy in a Digital Age (MARTIN MOORE)
9. Rethinking Democracy with Social Media (HELEN MARGETTS)
10. Post-Democracy and Populism (COLIN CROUCH)
11. Relating and Responding to the Politics of Resentment (GERRY STOKER)
12. A Hundred Years of British Democracy (ANDREW GAMBLE)
Index