Defending Politics: Why Democracy Matters in the Twenty-First Century

by Matthew Flinders

Citizens around the world have become distrustful of politicians, skeptical about democratic institutions, and disillusioned about the capacity of democratic politics to resolve pressing social concerns. Many feel as if something has gone seriously wrong with democracy. Those sentiments are especially high in the U.S. as the 2012 election draws closer. In 2008, President Barack Obama ran--and won--on a promise of hope and change for a better country. Four years later, that dream for hope and change seems to be waning by the minute. Instead, disillusionment grows with the Obama adminstration's achievements, or depending where you fall on the spectrum, its lack thereof.

Defending Politics meets this contemporary pessimism about the political process head on. In doing so, it aims to cultivate a shift from the negativity that appears to dominate public life towards a more buoyant and engaged "politics of optimism." Matthew Flinders makes an unfashionable but incredibly important argument of utmost democratic politics delivers far more than most members of the public appear to acknowledge and understand. If more and more people are disappointed with what modern democratic politics delivers, is it possible that the fault lies with those who demand too much, fail to acknowledge the essence of democratic engagement, and ignore the complexities of governing in the twentieth century? Is it possible that the public in many advanced liberal democracies have become "democratically decadent," that they take what democratic politics delivers for granted? Would politics appear in a better light if we all spent less time emphasizing our individual rights
and more time reflecting on our responsibilities to society and future generations?

Democratic politics remains "a great and civilizing human activity...something to be valued almost as a pearl beyond price," Bernard Crick stressed in his classic In Defense of Politics fifty years ago. By returning to and updating Crick's arguments, this book provides an honest account of why democratic politics matters and why we need to reject the arguments of those who would turn their backs on "mere politics" in favor of more authoritarian, populist or technocratic forms of governing.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Ebooks, Academic

222 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 2012

About the author

This is for the 21st century political writer.
For the 19th century Australian explorer, see Matthew^Flinders (only one space between names.)

Reviews

[Ryan Scicluna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book everybody should read, especially here in Malta. This book shows how the public blames politics for their increasing demands and expectations. It tells you that its not the fault of democracy or politicians that bad things happen but its the fault of individual people who do nor represent the whole ideology. The argument is presented in a very clear way and easy to follow. The problem I had with this book is that the author references a lot of other books and he did not include a complete list for further reading. So I had to create a list manually of all the related books mentioned and quoted from. For anyone who likes to follow up his reads with suggested readings here is a list of books helpful to better understand some theories and concepts in the book.

Title, Author, Year of Publication
Chapter 1: Political Rule in The Twenty-First Century

Exit, Voice and Loyalty Albert Hirschman 1980
Why Politics Matters Gerry Stoker's 2006
The Origins of Totalitarianism Hannah Arendt 1951
The Civic Culture Sideny Verba 1963
Why We Hate Politics Colin Hay 2007
Democratic Deficits Pippa Norris 2011
Democratic Challanges, Democratic Choices Russell Dalton 2004
The Lonely Crowd David Reisman
Framework for Political Analysis David Eston 1965
The Silent Revolution Ronald Inglehart 1977
Inside Bureaucracy Anthony Downs 1967
World Rule Jonathan Koppell 2011
The Governance of England Sideny Low 1903
American Government Frederic Ogg 1922
The Power Elite C. Wright Mill 1964
Representative and Responsible Government Anthony Birch 1964
The Flight from Reality in the Human Sciences Ian Shapiro 2005
Where have all the Intellectuals Gone? Frank Furedi 2004
Attack Politics Emmett Buell 2008
A Necessary Evil Garry Wills 1999

Chapter 2: A Defence of Politics Against Itself

Haterd of Democracy Jacques Rancieri 2006
Rethinking Democratic Accountability Robert Behn 2001
Democracy and Populism: Fear and Hatred John Lukacs 2005
American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony Samuel Huntington's 1981
Mortal Man and Immoral Society Reinhold Niebuhr 1932
The Control of Nature John McPhee 1989
Nudge Cass Sunstein 2008
On Liberty John Stuart 1859
In Defence of Anarchism Robert Wolff 1998
Human Rights David Owen 1970
Politics as a Vocation Max Weber 1918
An Economic Theory of Democracy Anthony Downs 1957
Servant of the People Andrew Rawnsle 2002
Democarcy in America Alexis de Tocqueville 1835
A Journey Tony Blair 2010
The Case for Democracy Natan Sharansky 2004
Hatred of Democracy Jacques Ranciere 2006

Chapter 3: A Defence of Politics Against The Market

The High Price of Materialism Tim Kasser 2003
The Paradox of Choice Barry Schwartz 2005
Status Anxiety Alain de Botton 2005
The Architecture of Happiness Alain de Botton 2007
Happiness Richard Layard 2006
Affluenza Oliver James 2007
The Art of Shrinking Heads Dany-Robert Dufour 2008
The Age of Absurdity Michael Foley 2010
The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism Daniel Bell 1976
Ronciples of Political Economics John Stuart Mill 1848
Ideology Karl Marx 1845
One Dimensional Man Herbert Marcuse 1964
Motivation and Personality Abraham Maslow 1954
Citizenship and Social Class T. H. Marshall 1949
Beyond Entitlement: The Social Obligations of Citizenship Lawrence Mead 1986
The Decline of The Public David Marquand 2004
Reinventing Government David Osborne 1992
The Managerial State John Clarke 1997
Citizen Consumers Catherine Needlham 2003
Hopes and Prospects Noam Chomsky 2010
The Master of His Emissary Iain McGilchrist 2009
The World of Goods Douglas and Isherwood 1978
The Unmanagable Consumer Gabirel and Lang 1995

Chapter 4: A Defence of Politics Against Denial

Democarcy and Complexity Danilo Zolo 1992
Is Government Too Political? Alan Blinder 1997
The Logic of Discipline Alisdair Roberts 2010
The British Regulatory State Mick Moran 2003
The End of History and The Last Man Francis Fukayamas 1992
The End of Politics Cark Bogg 1999
Post-Democarcy Colin Crouch 2004
Distributed Public Governance OECD 2002
The Politics of Quasi-Government Jonathan Koppell 2003
The Rise of the Unelected Frank Vibert 2007
The Life and Death of Democarcy John Keane 2009
The Quite Revolution Alan Blinder 2004
The Logic of Disipline Alastair Roberts 2010
On The Shores of Politics Jacques Ranciere 1995
The Blame Game: Spin, Bureacracy and Self-Presevation in Government Christopher Hood 2010
Power: A Radical View Stephen Luke 1974
Nature's Experts Stephen Bocking 2004

Chapter 5: A Defence of Politics Against Crises

Politics of Fear Frank Furedi 2005
Liquid Fear Zygmunt Bauman 2006
Climate Change Challange and The Failure of Democarcy Shearman and Smith 2008
The Politics of Climate Change Anthony Giddens 2009
The Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein 2007
Scared to Death Richard North 2007
Panicology Simon Briscoe 2008
Risk Dan Gardner 2008
Dread Philip Alcabes 2009
Ecocide Franz Broswimmer 2002
Collapse Jared Diamond 2004
A Short History of Progress Ronald Wright 2004
The Revenge of Gaia James Lovelock 2006
Storms of My Grandchildren James Hansen 2009
Winds of Change Eugene Linden 2009
An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore 2006
In Search of Politics Zygmunt Bauman 1999
Civilization and its Discontents Sigmund Freud 1930
Liquid Modernity Zygmunt Bauman 2000
Bowling Alone Robert Putnam 2000
Non-Stop Inertia Ivor Southwood 2011
The Precariate Guy Standing 2011
World at Risk Beck 2009
The Black Swan Nassim Nicholas Taleb 2010
The New Terrorism Walter Laqueur 1999
The Risk Society at War Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen 2006
Old and New Terrorism Peter Neuman 2009
War in an Age of Risk Christopher Coker 2009
Intimate Enemies Philip Jenkins 1992
Satanic Panis Jeffrey Victor 1993
Flat Earth News Nick Davies 2008
The End of The World John Leslie 1996
Our Final Hour Martin Rees 2003
Field Notes from a Catastrophe Elizabeth Kolbert 2006
Requiem for a Species Clive Hamilton 2010
Leviathan Thomas Hobbes 1651
Requiem for Modern Politics William Ophuls 1998
The Population Bomb Paul Ehrlich 1968
Ecology and The Politics of Scarcity William Ophuls 1977
Managing The Commons Garret Hardin 1979
The Republic Plato
A Patient from Hell Steve Schneider 2005
Hell and High Water Alastair McIntosh 2008
When The People Speak James Fishkin 2009
The Party's Over Richard Heinber 2008
Catastrophe and Socail Change Samuel Prince 1920
Man and Society in Calamity Pitirim Sorokin 1942
The Functions of Social Conflict Lewis Coser 1956

Chapter 6: A Defence of Politics Against The Media

What The Media Are Doing to Our Politics John Lloyd 2004
A Troubled Marriage Nick Robinson 2006
Who Runs This Place? Anthony Sampson 2004
Out of Order Thomas Patterson 1993
Breaking News: How The Media Undermine American Democracy James Fallows 1996
Spiral of Cynicism Joseph Cappella 1997
The Argument Culture Deborah Tanner 1998
The Death and Life of American Journalism Robert McChesney 2010
With Malice to All? Patricia Moy 2003
Vanishing Voters Thomas Patterson 2003
The Press Effect Kathleen Hall 2004
A Virtuous Circle Pippa Norris 2000
Animal Farm George Orwell 1945
1984 George Orwell 1949
Snark: It's Mean, it's Personal and it's Destroying our Conversation David Denby 2010
From Art to Politics Maurice Edelman 1995
The Electronic Republic Lawrence Grossman 1996
The Digital Sublime Vincent Mosco 2004
The Myth of Digital Democracy Matthew Hindman 2008
The Internet Democratic Citizenship Stephen Coleman 2009
The Good Citizen Micheal Schudson 1999
Republic.Com 2.0 Cass Sunstein 2009
In Defence of Politics Peter Riddell 2011
Being Digital Nicholas Negroponte 1995
Public Deliberation James Bohman 1996
Politics on The Net Wayne Rash 1997
Search Engine Society Alex Halavais 2008
Rich Media, Poor Democracy Robert Chesney 1999
The Journalist and The Murdere Janet Malcolm 1990
Folk Devils and Moral Panics Stanley Cohen 1980
Liars! Cheaters! Evildoer! Domonization and The End of Civil Debate in American Politics Tom de Luca 2005

Chapter 7: In Praise of Politics

The Scapegoat David Marquand 2010
Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak 1958
Citizen Ethics in a Time of Crisis Alain de Botton 2010
Living in The End of Times Slavoj Zizek 2010
Capitalism, Socialism and Democarcy Joseph Schumpeter 1942
Death and Dying Elisabeth Kubler-Ross 1969

[Jonathan Downing · Rating 4 out of 5]

A MUST-READ if you can handle a slightly academic and dry text. Flinders' argument is simple, but he's brilliant at taking each chapter to flesh out how politics has been negatively impacted by a certain factor and how it should be seen differently. Great to read in this time of a disaffected electorate :D

[Nouf · Rating 5 out of 5]

A humble yet a bold author. Matthew Flinders established a great argument about letting go of 'bad faith model of politics' , an argument that would convince many starting from me.

There are some points that I don't necessarily agree with. For example, regarding the chapter about the role of Media in creating hatred to politics and politicians (which is true) , however, the author overlooked ( or didn't emphasize)the role of politicians or the government ways of using media for their own interests. Although I really liked it when the author kept referring to books , articles that support his argument but I felt somehow that he is not relying on his original analysis. Still it is a page turner and one of the books that I will always get back to, especially when it comes to respond to the advocate of 'bad faith model of politics' .

This is why I highly recommend reading this book for those who lost hope in politics , government, or even politicians.

[!Tæmbuŝu]

KOBOBOOKS

[Natan Facchin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book with some strong opinions that I disagree such as not complete transparency - read wiki leaks and others I totally agree, mainly the perception gap.