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Can Democracy Work?: A Short History of a Radical Idea, from Ancient Athens to Our World Hardcover – September 18, 2018
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"Of all the books on democracy in recent years one of the best is James Miller’s Can Democracy Work? . . . Miller provides an intelligent journey through the turbulent past of this great human experiment in whether we can actually govern ourselves." ―David Blight, The Guardian
A new history of the world’s most embattled idea
Today, democracy is the world’s only broadly accepted political system, and yet it has become synonymous with disappointment and crisis. How did it come to this? In Can Democracy Work? James Miller, the author of the classic history of 1960s protest Democracy Is in the Streets, offers a lively, surprising, and urgent history of the democratic idea from its first stirrings to the present. As he shows, democracy has always been rife with inner tensions. The ancient Greeks preferred to choose leaders by lottery and regarded elections as inherently corrupt and undemocratic. The French revolutionaries sought to incarnate the popular will, but many of them came to see the people as the enemy. And in the United States, the franchise would be extended to some even as it was taken from others. Amid the wars and revolutions of the twentieth century, communists, liberals, and nationalists all sought to claim the ideals of democracy for themselves―even as they manifestly failed to realize them.
Ranging from the theaters of Athens to the tents of Occupy Wall Street, Can Democracy Work? is an entertaining and insightful guide to our most cherished―and vexed―ideal.
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherFarrar, Straus and Giroux
- Publication dateSeptember 18, 2018
- Dimensions6.42 x 1.25 x 9.12 inches
- ISBN-100374137641
- ISBN-13978-0374137649
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"What makes the book compelling is its focus on colorful thinkers, activists, and political leaders who lived and breathed the democratic moment throughout history, from Pericles and Socrates in ancient Athens to Woodrow Wilson and Vladimir Lenin in the early twentieth century. Miller shows that democracy’s ascent is best seen not as a gradual unfolding of a political principle driven by reason and moral destiny but rather as a grand roller coaster ride of struggle, revolution, and backlash. Today’s populist outbursts look quite ordinary alongside this history." ―G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs
"The strength of this book lies . . . in the exquisite portraits it paints of characters who stand behind the immortalized Pericles, Robespierre, and Thomas Jefferson . . . [Miller] forces the reader to sit up and realize that history isn’t a definitive grayed parchment beyond reproach, but actually a living force constantly capable of new interpretation and meaning in our current world. . . Like the ekklesia in Athens, the constituent assembly in Versailles, and the soviet in Petrograd – Can Democracy Work? offers insightful context on how our own body politic will survive these turbulent times." ―John Colin Marston, The Christian Science Monitor
“This is a bold, eloquent, and utterly convincing history of what democracy has meant and should mean―from the Assembly of ancient Greece to the anti-Trump resistance. James Miller has produced one of the wisest reflections on the glories and limits of popular rule I have ever read."―Michael Kazin, author of The Populist Persuasion: An American History
“Democracy has always been at the center of James Miller’s career, whether he was investigating the sublime theories of the Enlightenment or the street politics of the 1960s. Now, at the very moment of democracy’s apparent endangerment, one of its best friends offers up the most capacious and inspiring history of it ever composed. From the Greeks to the present, Miller’s light touch and profound insight join each other on every page to make this a truly indispensable work for the present crisis.” ―Samuel Moyn, author of Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World
“No one is better qualified to wrestle with the riddle of democracy than James Miller, which is why I have been eagerly awaiting this brilliant and necessary book. Can Democracy Work? is an eloquent, clear-eyed account of democracy’s myriad challenges. This concise and compelling history deserves to be read and debated by all who still dare to dream of a society of equals. These pages left me feeling better prepared and reinvigorated to work toward a more democratic future.” ―Astra Taylor, director of What is Democracy? and author of The People’s Platform
“James Miller, who has illuminated democracy's radical possibilities, now offers some sharp reflections on how those possibilities have fared over the centuries. At a moment when the very meaning of the word is up for grabs, Miller brings us back to philosophical essentials as forged by contingency, contradiction, and human folly. Refreshing and unsettling, here is some political intelligence in a dark and confusing time.” ―Sean Wilentz, author of The Rise of American Democracy
“Distinguished historian of ideas James Miller’s short history of democracy and its different meanings is both compulsive and compulsory reading for our sometimes shockingly disenchanted times. Ever optimistic, Miller remains enamored of his native United States’s striking experiment in cosmopolitan self-governance, and stands proudly and persuasively tall for liberal―and democratic―ideals.” ―Paul Cartledge, author of Democracy: A Life
“This sharp, spirited, engaged intellectual history of democracy, including its recent and often loose coupling with liberalism, combines an appraisal of both inherent and situational pitfalls with an appreciation of redemptive possibilities. If democracy is protean, what matters, this rich work teaches, is the quality of our normative choices and institutional imagination.” ―Ira I. Katznelson, author of Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time
". . . An attractively broad and accessible account of democracy from the Greeks to the present day. . .[guides] readers through the mass of difficult material with enviable clarity . . . [offers] impressive new evidence and analyses." ―David A. Bell, New York Review of Books
"Engaging ....I’m particularly drawn to Miller’s investigation of a concept that most of us think we understand. As Miller demonstrates, “democracy” deserves a second look." ―Stan Persky, Dooney's Cafe
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- Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux (September 18, 2018)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0374137641
- ISBN-13 : 978-0374137649
- Item Weight : 1.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.42 x 1.25 x 9.12 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,285,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,651 in Democracy (Books)
- #3,645 in Political Philosophy (Books)
- #34,231 in World History (Books)
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And yes, why is the word 'populist' tainted?
And what about these demagogues, ancient and modern orange ones? If ever you've muttered "I love humanity, it's people I can't stand," you may find in this book you are not alone.
One of the marking of a democracy is the need for concensus for every issue, every action to develop. The way this has been achieved since ancient Athens is via meetings of eligible citizens. As societies increase in size and the scope of eligible citizenery grows to include more people, such meetings become cumbersome and ineffective. Groups and governments then reach for various means of representation, appointment, smaller elected groups, occassional a strong leader, etc.. All of these groups of representatives are heavily influenced by their own personal interests. Thus the "will of the people" doesn't get accurately reflected in decision making.
Miller is an old "New Leftist" and his bias shows up in many chapters. None so much as in the last portions of the book where he praises the futile attempts of Occupy Wall Street as being democratic at their core, but brushes over the failure for true leaders and defined goals to emerge, blaming their downfall on the police and political-economic powers in the city. He praises Obama, but fails to note the heavy presence of the oligarchy of the administrative state during Obama's two terms. Earlier he had criticized the administrative state brought on by early progressives like T. Roosevelt and Wilson. And dispite his interesting view on Andrew Jackson and the upsurge in "democracy" in the American Republic brought on by that election, he fails to note the similarity in the election of Donald Trump. While an autocrat, Trump has, like Jackson, adopted the cloak of populism and the growing distaste amongst American voters for the so-called nanny state.
Miller offers hope, for his view and meaning of demcracy, but gives only passing attention to the role of demcracy in Scandinavian countries. His hope is that the Unitied States will eventually adopt mandatory voting as the next phase for democratic institutions. And he continues to carry that leftist fantasy that somehow, some day, worker controlled economies will flurish, a notion that may of us who once raised the banner of Port Huron have come to realize if only a pipedream.
All in all, though, Miller has written a treatise that is well worth reading and pondering, and does increase one's understanding of the development of the democratic ideals.
Democracy* is a term that has been used for so long and in so many ways that it has lost its meaning. North Korea claims to be a Democratic People's Republic. Russia is an authoritarian regime with superficial democratic fringe. Greece is the so-called cradle of democracy, but how democratic was it really? What percentage of the population were allowed to participate? Positions of authority at times were chosen by lot since elections were seen as corrupt. Even today, in America, elections are about money. LBJ was successful because of people in Congress who owed him favors. Political machines tainted American democracy.
America's founding fathers were not in favor of democracy and looked to the Roman Republic as a source for stable government rather than Athens. The original federal government was small and did little compared to day's government. Democratic types of government work best in small groups. In large groups mob rule and the tyranny of the majority are likely to take place. Divided government slows the actions of mob rule somewhat. Major events can still trigger rapid action. 9/11 triggered a piece of legislation called the Patriot Act. Legislators admitted not reading it before voting for it. This would not have happened without the act of terror. It created a type of "mob rule" or general will, as Rousseau would have called it, that bucked the system of government.
Miller also includes one of the maligned Western political thinkers, Machiavelli. Machiavelli was a republican and believed in representational government and more importantly, he believed in citizen militias. If the citizens had a stake in their government they would be willing to defend it. Inclusion into governing has been debated limited and expanded and limited again. White (or native) men who held land were usually given the right to vote. Sometimes military service was also a condiction. Does expanding the number of voters help or hinder the selection of a good leader. Would a larger pool of voters or a small pool of educated land-owning voters provide better results? That question still haunts the idea of democratic rule.
Leaders in France, England, and Russia are also looked at in the historic sense along with American leaders like Andrew Jackson. Our current president is a fan of Andrew Jackson and the two do have much in common. Miller, in a well-cited work, discusses the history of democracy and its various forms in mainly in Athens, France, and the United States. Many misconceptions and inaccuracies are cleared up as well as detailing the French revolutions. Well written and extremely informative.
*Democracy used in its widest sense to include direct democracy and representational democracies. Likewise, small "r" republican is used to describe a supporter of a republic, representational democracy.