Against Elections

The Case for Democracy

By: David Van Reybrouck

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Paperback | 18 July 2016

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Paperback
208 Pages

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21.5 x 13.4 x 1.6

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An ingenious, heretical and timely argument to save democracy from elections

Whenever there are elections, the results are the same: fear-mongering, division and broken promises. Against Elections offers a new diagnosis - and an ancient remedy.

'Excellent . . . Why does our system keep electing people whose incomes, assets, interests and psychology are hugely at variance with ours? Because that is what it is designed to do' George Monbiot, Guardian

'Very persuasive . . . invigorating' Daniel Finkelstein, The Times

As this ingenious book shows, the original purpose of elections was not democracy: it was to exclude the people from power by appointing an elite to govern over them.

In fact, for most of its 3000-year history, democracy did not involve elections at all: members of the public were appointed to positions in government through a combination of volunteering and lottery.

Based on studies and trials from around the globe, this hugely influential manifesto presents the practical case for a true democracy - one that actually works.

Urgent, heretical and completely convincing, Against Elections leaves only one question to be answered: what are we waiting for?

'Riveting' Irish Examiner
'Persuasive' Financial Times
'A convincing case' Observer

Industry Reviews

"Riveting" Irish Examiner "Very persuasive ... There are few new big ideas in politics and few answers to the serious challenge faced by democratic politics ... invigorating and advance[s] a promising practical idea ... fresh, challenging and uncomplicated" -- Daniel Finkelstein The Times "This fine iconoclastic work could not be more timely ... demonstrate[s] that far from safeguarding our right to self-determination, elections are actually impeding our democracy" -- Karen Armstrong "Mounts a convincing case that we have wrongly conflated democracy with elections" Observer "Van Reybrouck wants to revive a system in which government is not just for the people, but really by the people ... a persuasive description of a system designed to be soundly based in popular assent ... A President Trump might focus attention on his views" Financial Times "Choosing our rulers by popular vote has failed to deliver true democratic government: that seems to be the verdict of history unfolding before our eyes ... [this] may well be an idea whose time has come" -- J. M. Coetzee "A sovereign remedy for the raging crypto-oligarchy of our turbulent times" -- Professor Paul Cartledge, author of Democracy: A Life

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