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ericlawton's review
3.0
I read it again because I'm doing some writing relating to the topic. Upgraded it one star. I still think that it limits its scope far too much, assuming that "democracy" means British Parliamentary or US Republican systems and that it needs minor corrections to restore to its former glory.
However, within those constraints, it does show how the years since those systems were established, the would-be rulers have found ways to game the system, preserving the letter but not the spirit.
Original review follows below.
===================
Disappointing. I've found some of Grayling's other works to be quite useful.
Although it picks of some of the obvious signs that democracy is undergoing a crisis as evidenced by Brexit and Trump, too much of the book is on the history of Western democracy that I mostly knew and in any case he did not show how most of it is relevant to current problems.
The promise of the book is only met in the last couple of chapters and then his primary suggestions on how to fix the problem miss one of the biggest challenges. For example, Grayling says that the executive in the UK parliament has too much power; this should be changed to reduce that power and give it back to individual MPs. The big challenge here is that if MPs are not now able to vote against the wishes of the executive, how can they vote to take that power away? Another example: he says we need to get rid of the first-past-the-post electoral system. Canada's current Liberal government actually campaigned on that issue and promptly reversed themselves once in power. Another example that the executive is too powerful; where are all the Liberal MPs clamouring to do something as simple as meet election promises?
There is no attempt to address other major issues such as the growing power of racist and other hate groups, who may equally benefit from alternate systems such as proportional representation, or how nations sharing the same territory might better work together.
However, within those constraints, it does show how the years since those systems were established, the would-be rulers have found ways to game the system, preserving the letter but not the spirit.
Original review follows below.
===================
Disappointing. I've found some of Grayling's other works to be quite useful.
Although it picks of some of the obvious signs that democracy is undergoing a crisis as evidenced by Brexit and Trump, too much of the book is on the history of Western democracy that I mostly knew and in any case he did not show how most of it is relevant to current problems.
The promise of the book is only met in the last couple of chapters and then his primary suggestions on how to fix the problem miss one of the biggest challenges. For example, Grayling says that the executive in the UK parliament has too much power; this should be changed to reduce that power and give it back to individual MPs. The big challenge here is that if MPs are not now able to vote against the wishes of the executive, how can they vote to take that power away? Another example: he says we need to get rid of the first-past-the-post electoral system. Canada's current Liberal government actually campaigned on that issue and promptly reversed themselves once in power. Another example that the executive is too powerful; where are all the Liberal MPs clamouring to do something as simple as meet election promises?
There is no attempt to address other major issues such as the growing power of racist and other hate groups, who may equally benefit from alternate systems such as proportional representation, or how nations sharing the same territory might better work together.
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