Defending Politics: Why Democracy Matters in the Twenty-First Century [Hardcover] Flinders, Matthew

If the twentieth century witnessed the triumph of democracy then something appears to have gone seriously wrong. Citizens around the world have become distrustful of politicians, sceptical about democratic institutions, and disillusioned about the capacity of democratic politics to resolve pressing social concerns. Defending Politics meets this contemporary pessimism about the political process head on. Matthew Flinders makes a highly unfashionable but incredibly important argument of almost primitive simplicity: democratic politics delivers far more than most members of the public appear to acknowledge and understand. In rejecting fashionable fears about the 'end of politics', this book provides a fresh, provocative, and above all optimistic view of the achievements and future potential of democratic politics.

Matthew Flinders is Professor of Parliamentary Government & Governance at the University of Sheffield. His book Delegated Governance and the British State was awarded the W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize in 2009 for the best book in political science. He is also the author of Democratic Drift and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of British Politics.