Post-Democracy is a polemical work that goes beyond current
complaints about the failings of our democracy and explores the
deeper social and economic forces that account for the current
malaise. Colin Crouch argues that the decline of those social
classes which had made possible an active and critical mass
politics has combined with the rise of global capitalism to produce
a self-referential political class more concerned with forging
links with wealthy business interests than with pursuing political
programmes which meet the concerns of ordinary people. He shows
how, in some respects, politics at the dawn of the twenty-first
century returns us to a world familiar well before the start of the
twentieth, when politics was a game played among elites. However,
Crouch maintains that the experience of the twentieth century
remains salient and it reminds us of possibilities for the revival
of politics. This engaging book will prove challenging to all those
who claim that advanced societies have reached a virtual best of
all possible democratic worlds, and will be compelling reading for
anyone interested in the shape of twenty-first-century politics.
'Colin Crouch has written a powerful plea for a politics of the left in the twenty-first century. He is no advocate of the Third Way. For him the stark alternative is liberal democracy or egalitarian democracy, and he clearly opts for the latter. Those who disagree with his analysis or his conclusions will have to make their case, and will no doubt do so. Crouch's book is sure to give rise to lively debate.' Ralf Dahrendorf 'Colin Crouch has the great gift of bringing theory down to accessible earth. Social capital theory is applied to the policies needed for civil renewal. This thoughtful book is a culmination of all that we have been expecting-and more-from his Fabian pamphlets and Political Quarterly articles on the dilemmas of democracy in troubled times.' Professor Bernard Crick
'Colin Crouch has written a powerful plea for a politics of the left in the twenty-first century. He is no advocate of the Third Way. For him the stark alternative is liberal democracy or egalitarian democracy, and he clearly opts for the latter. Those who disagree with his analysis or his conclusions will have to make their case, and will no doubt do so. Crouch's book is sure to give rise to lively debate.' Ralf Dahrendorf
'Colin Crouch has the great gift of bringing theory down to accessible earth. Social capital theory is applied to the policies needed for civil renewal. This thoughtful book is a culmination of all that we have been expecting-and more-from his Fabian pamphlets and Political Quarterly articles on the dilemmas of democracy in troubled times.' Professor Bernard Crick
Colin Crouch lehrt Governance and Public Management an der University of Warwick.
Inhaltsangabe
Preface
1. Why Post-Democracy?
2. The Global Firm: The Key Institution of the Post-Democratic World
3. Social Class in Post-Democracy
4. The Political Party under Post-Democracy
5. Post-Democracy and the Commercialization of Citizenship
