The Challenges of Democracy: And the Rule of Law

by Jonathan Sumption

'A timely red alert that democratic values cannot be taken for granted' The Times
'Incisive and eloquent' The Telegraph

NOW FEATURING A NEW ESSAY ON ISRAEL, GAZA AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

Across the globe, democracy is in crisis - in the UK alone, it has been rocked by Brexit, the pandemic and successive attempts by governments to bypass legal norms. But how did this happen, and where might we go from here?

Jonathan Sumption cuts through the political noise with acute analysis of the state of democracy today - from the vulnerabilities of international law to the deepening suppression of democracy activism in Hong Kong, and from the complexities of human rights legislation to the defence of freedom of speech. Timely, incisive and wholly original, Challenges of Democracy applies the brilliance of 'the cleverest man in Britain' to the most urgent and far-reaching political issue of our day.

Genres: Politics, Law, Nonfiction, History

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 13, 2025

About the author

The son of a barrister, Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption attended Eton then Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with first-class honours in history in 1970. After being called to the bar at Inner Temple in 1975, he became a Queen's Council in 1986 and a Bencher in 1991. He is joint head of Brick Court Chambers and was appointed to the UK Supreme Court in 2011. He has written numerous books on history and is a governor of the Royal Academy of Music.

Reviews

[Anthony Etherington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan Sumption’s book is highly readable and hugely thought provoking. He identifies several threats to democracy – economic insecurity, intolerance and fear – and these, and their consequences, appear repeatedly in this collection of essays. He challenges current social and political trends and his conclusions do not always make for comfortable reading but he leaves us with a clear idea about what we need to do, together and as individuals, if we want to sustain rather than undermine democracy in the UK.

[Luke Gompertz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The structure of this book leaves a lot to be desired – somehow simultaneously the separate essays lose cohesion while also including a lot of repetition (even verbatim in multiple instances). Several of the essays also come across as opinion pieces, which is fine of course, but much less satisfying than the serious argumentation that appears elsewhere in the book. Despite this the book is certainly thought-provoking and – sadly perhaps – ever more relevant in our time.

[Georgina Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

we deffs didn't agree on some things but good to have your perspective challenged

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Sumption's book is erudite (as you would expect) and written in a lawyerly style (I often felt I was listening to him argue his case in court) but without becoming a slog. The arguments are made with a precision that carefully unpick each onion so as to make sure the reader perceives the exact bullseye the author is aiming at. The book will certainly help the reader decide which parts of his or her beliefs to keep and which to throw away.

The author covers four broad topics:
(1) Politics and the State: four chapters built around the the nature and fragility of democracy; including a devastating critique of recent events in Hong Kong

(2) Law in Our Lives: three chapters on the purpose of the rule of law, the source of its legitimacy, and its limits, particularly with regard to the concept of absolute human rights within countries with or (like the UK) without a written Constitution; including an acerbic critique of recent US judicial decisions

(3) The International Dimension of Law: three chapters built around Sumption's dislike of the European Court of Justice and its mission creep in the application of human rights within EU member states based on what he believes are manipulated distinction between domestic litigations of substantive versus process natures; this, he argues, fails to recognise the appropriate dividing line beyond which rights should remain the domain of domestic political choices and evolve in consequence

(4) Freedom of Speech: two final chapters in which he attacks the partial and dogmatic reshaping of history "to serve as a weapon in current political disputes" - thereby committing the same error that is retrospectively laid at the door of past generations, namely to believe in the superiority of the current civilisation and its social norms, and the same vices, namely "tendentious selection [of historical events], exaggeration, and intolerance of dissent"; with the latter eroding the basis upon which the modern intellectual scientific world has been built, namely "that we get closest to the truth by objective study of the available material .... logical reasoning, and by willingness to engage with dissenting opinion." By subtly redefining what constitutes 'harm' inflicted by one individual on another so as to cover "the discomfort caused by having to endure contradiction", rendering everyone responsible for tiptoeing around what might cause offence to others, Sumption argues we are killing off free speech and perverting the existing legal principles that apply to it in the UK.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of essays by the former judge of the UK Supreme Court dealing with law in our modern world. The first section includes essays on politics in the UK and Hong Kong and its highlights are the essay on Democracy and its Enemies, in memory of Roger Scruton, that examines the threats to democracy in the UK from the risk aversion of modern populations and the activities of parties such as climate change activists (who share the mindset of terrorists) and What is going on in the United Kingdom, a fascinating description of the transformation of British politics from 2012 to 2022.

The second section, Law in Our Lives, includes an essay on the proper role of law and argues against judges displacing the political process on disputed questions and gives a practical example of this in a second essay describing the mission creep of the judges of the European Court of Human Rights into areas where they were never intended to have authority. Finally, there's a fine essay on American law on presidential crimes and one president in particular (guess who).

Section Three on the International Dimension of the Law develops the above themes further, looking again at the mission creep of the ECtHR and at how the member states of the European Union, though subscribing in theory to the primacy of EU law, have in fact retained a primacy of national law on fundamental questions.

Finally, Section Four, on Freedom of Speech, rounds off an invigorating collection of essays with Sumption's thoughts on The New Roundheads describing the intolerance of the self-proclaimed uber-tolerant and their philosophy derived from Foucault and Edward Said, and an eye-opening essay on the threat to free speech from the decline of individualism (witness the Covid conformity) as foreseen by the apostle of liberalism, John Stuart Mill.

Superb.

[Terje Tondel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thought provoking and erudite book by this former high court judge. The book was clearly written with clipped short sentences. The central message was sometimes lost in heavy legalistic detail for some, like myself, not schooled in the law. Obviously the target audience were those with an academic or practising involvement in legal matters.
The best chapters were those scrutinising the concept of free speech, very much at the forefront of social and political controversy today.

[Gabriel Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and thought-provoking

An excellent and thought-provoking defence of free speech. Highly necessary in today’s intolerant world, where the “wrong” views are enough to destroy your life. Strongly recommended.

[Tici · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weak on politics but clear, thoughtful, accessible on the rest

[James Wilson FRHistS · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review for the Law Society Gazette is published here:

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/reviews/...

[helga · Rating 2 out of 5]

liked this book up until the very last chapter