Democracy in Crisis - Lessons from Ancient Athens

Democracy in Crisis: Lessons from Ancient Athens



https://CourseMega.com

English | 4 January 2022 | ISBN-10: 178836063X | 240 pages| PDF (true) | 7 MB

The storming of the US Capitol building in January 2021 focused attention on the multiple threats facing contemporary liberal cracies. Beyond the immediate problem of Covid-19, the past two decades saw political polarization, a dramatic rise in inequality, global warming and other environmental threats, as well as the growth of dangerous cultural and political divisions. Western liberal cracies find themselves in the midst of what political theorists call a legitimation crisis: major portions of the population lack confidence in the ability of governments to address our most pressing problems. This distrust in government and traditional political parties opened the door to populist leaders and a rising tide of authoritarianism.
Liberal cracies face major structural and normative challenges in the near future that require us to look beyond the traditional set of solutions available. cracy in Crisis points back to the world's first cratic government, Ancient Athens, to see what made that political arrangement durable and resistant to both internal and external threats. The argument focuses on several distinctive Athenian institutions and practices, and considers how we might reimagine them in the modern world. The book addresses questions of civic ideology and institutions, with extended treatment of two distinctive Athenian institutions, ostracism and sortition.