{"product_id":"9781805265221-demagogues-and-despots-democracies-on-the-brink","title":"Demagogues and Despots","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDemocracies on the Brink\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDemocracy and despotism live closer together than you’d expect—this briskly astute book reveals why that should alarm us all.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDemocracy and despotism live closer together than you’d expect—this briskly astute book reveals why that should alarm us all.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe live in troubled times, marked by a sinister trend threatening democracy everywhere: the triumph of despotism not only in countries like Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also in states run by popularly elected demagogues—Trump, Erdoğan and Netanyahu.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLeading political thinker John Keane shows why this new despotism defies the laws of political gravity. Instead of relying exclusively on fear or force, it fosters a strange, pseudo-democratic type of government, led by rulers skilled in winning public loyalty through election-rigging, legal trickery, corruption, weaponised lying and talk of enemies. And alarmingly, the new despots hunt in packs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut what’s so good about democracy? In bold, energetic prose, Keane explains that it’s much more than popular self-government based on free and fair elections. Democracy is the collective insistence that unaccountable power is always dangerous—and that democratic institutions are our best weapon against demagogues and despots.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56414899700086,"sku":"9781805265221","price":15.46,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_40132101_9977dfc8-392d-4819-8548-a4a583e2a43c.jpg?v=1772094591","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781805265221-demagogues-and-despots-democracies-on-the-brink","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}