Democracy's Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World's Most Popular Form of Government - Hardcover

Mandelbaum, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1586485148 ISBN 13: 9781586485146

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2007

Synopsis

The last thirty years have witnessed one of the most remarkable developments in history: the rapid rise of democracy around the world. In 1900, only ten countries were democracies and by 1975 there were only 30. Today, 119 of the world's 190 countries have adopted this form of government, and it is by far the most celebrated and prestigious one.

How did democracy acquire its good name? Why did it spread so far and so fast? Why do important countries remain undemocratic? And why do efforts to export democracy so often fail and even make conditions worse?

In Democracy's Good Name, Michael Mandelbaum, one of America's leading foreign policy thinkers, answers these questions. He surveys the methods and risks of promoting democracy, and analyzes the prospects for the establishment of democratic governments in Russia, China, and the Arab world.

Written in Mandelbaum's clear and accessible style, Democracy's Good Name presents a lucid, comprehensive, and surprising account of the history and future of democracy from the American Revolution to the occupation of Iraq.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Mandelbaum is the Christian A. Herter Professor of American Foreign Policy at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is the author of ten books, including The Ideas That Conquered the World and The Case For Goliath.

Reviews

Democracy, until recently, was an anomaly in a landscape of monarchies, dictatorships and empires; its critics—including America's founding fathers—associated it with mob rule and demagogic tyranny. In this engaging treatise, Mandelbaum (The Ideas That Conquered the World) explains how the modern democratic fusion of popular sovereignty—i.e., majority rule—with individual liberty came to dominate the world's polities. His first reason is straightforward: democracy works. Democratic nations, he notes, especially the flagship democracies of Britain and the U.S., are wealthier, stronger and more stable and inspire other countries to emulate them. His second, more provocative explanation, is that the modern spread of free markets provides a school for democracy by establishing private property (the fundamental liberty), respect for law, civil society, organized economic interests as the forerunners of political parties, and the habit of settling differences by negotiation and compromise rather than violence. Mandelbaum's market rhetoric—he calls democracy the leading brand of political system among knowledgeable political consumers—can be a bit simpleminded. But readers will find a lucid, accessible blend of history, political science and sociology, with a wealth of fresh insights into the making of the contemporary world. (Aug.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1586485148
• ISBN 13: 9781586485146
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336