Democracy Disrupted: The Politics of Global Protest

by Ivan Krastev

In "Democracy Disrupted," journalist and political scientist Ivan Krastev proposes a provocative interpretation of the "Occupy" movements that have surfaced in the United States, Great Britain, and Spain, as well as the more destabilizing forms of unrest in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

88 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 15, 2014

About the author

Ivan Krastev (Bulgarian: Иван Кръстев, born 1965 in Lukovit, Bulgaria), is a political scientist, the chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, permanent fellow at the IWM (Institute of Human Sciences) in Vienna, and 2013-14-17 Richard von Weizsäcker fellow at the Robert Bosch Stiftung in Berlin.

He is a founding board member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the board of trustees of the International Crisis Group and is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times.

From 2004 to 2006 Krastev was executive director of the International Commission on the Balkans chaired by the former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Edition of Foreign Policy and was a member of the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London (2005-2011).

His books in English include "After Europe" (UPenn Press, 2017), "Democracy Disrupted. The Global Politics on Protest" (UPenn Press, May 2014), "In Mistrust We Trust: Can Democracy Survive When We Don't Trust Our Leaders", (TED Books, 2013); "The Anti-American Century", co-edited with Alan McPherson, (CEU Press, 2007) and "Shifting Obsessions: Three Essays on the Politics of Anticorruption" (CEU Press, 2004). He is a co-author with Stephen Holmes of a forthcoming book on Russian politics.

Reviews

[Rein · Rating 5 out of 5]

A succinct and poignant analysis not only of the recent wave of popular protests in different countries, but also about the current state and perspectives of democracy s such. Rejecting both Paul Mason's optimisim that these protests might predict the fall of the capitalist order and Francis Fukuyama's view that they are a triumph of democracy, Krastev shows on the examples of Bulgaria, Russia, Thailand and Turkey (the book was published in 2014, so the sad news about Turkey are not treated in it) how the protests are neither, but should more appropriately be seen as a symptom of the subjection of politics to globalist and consumerist logic, or, in Hirschmann's terms, a collective "exit" from the political system rather than a claim for "voice".

[Leni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mam wrażenie, że autor często się powtarzał. Zaletami natomiast będą przejrzystość, pomagająca w zrozumieniu tekstu i płynny styl wypowiedzi.

[John Wiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liberal Democracy cast as the unsinkable Titanic by Fujiyama, but here we are again twenty years on, trying to figure out the present, much less the future--counting the lifeboats. Krastev's recent appearance on the Ezra Klein podcast (April 2022) was exhilarating to hear, and led me to this book. It's a bit of work to read, a tight essay so rich and in certain ways technical that it bears reading twice. No matter how tough his message can be, I am glad to have it. I will read everything he has published. These times we are living through are critical--more clearly so when you get past the din of tribal chatter that is American media.

Note to whoever proofed the manuscript: C-; this book deserved better.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Begins okay. Describes protests that bring people together for a bit and them fade away. It becomes dry about 1/2 through. Part Political Science and part Philosophy.

[Ludovica Radici · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but a bit too condescending towards popular movements - and dismissive of the very clear demands in many of them (see Occupy Wall Street).

[C M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ivan Krastev is one of my favorite, if not the favorite, analysts of European politics, so this short book was a must read. It is in many way classic Krastev, taking a slightly different look at the same thing everyone else is looking at, which throwing in a plethora of thought-provoking one-liners. While he has a refreshingly critical, almost reactionary, view of the many demonstrations that have enthused so many others in recent years -- from Greece to Ukraine, from New York to Thailand, he does not really offer a comprehensive theory of its causes and consequences. Perhaps that makes the booklet even more useful, however, as it raises many questions rather than answering just one.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting extended essay suggesting that mass protests are release valves for the status quo, as opposed to truly revolutionary acts. That is because once the demonstrators feel the world has heard them, they go back to life as normal, and the status quo is maintained. There were a number of typographical errors, in my copy unfortunately.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Protest wobec demokratycznie wybranej partii, manifestacja ponad sp0łecznymi podziałami, okupacja Wall Street - znaki naszych czasów, czasów wyborców nieufnych wobec jakiejkolwiek władzy. Idealna lektura tuż przed wymarszem na zgromadzenie KOD. Albo zamiast. By zrozumieć, do czego to prowadzi a do czego nie. I że nie tylko w polskiej ale w każdej demokracji - za usterki - przepraszamy.