Radical Democracy

by C. Douglas Lummis

C. Douglas Lummis writes as if he were talking with intelligent friends rather than articulating political theory. He reminds us that democracy literally means a political state in which the people (demos) have the power (kratia). The people referred to are not people of a certain class or gender or color. They are, in fact, the poorest and largest body of citizens. Democracy is and always has been the most radical proposal, and constitutes a critique of every sort of centralized power. Lummis distinguishes true democracy from the inequitable incarnations referred to in contemporary liberal usage. He weaves commentary on classic texts with personal anecdotes and reflections on current events. Writing from Japan and drawing on his own experience in the Philippines at the height of People's Power, Lummis brings a cross-cultural perspective to issues such as economic development and popular mobilization. He warns against the fallacy of associating free markets or the current world economic order with democracy and argues for transborder democratic action. Rejecting the ways in which technology imposes its own needs, Lummis asks what work would look like in a truly democratic society. He urges us to remember that democracy should mean a fundamental stance toward the world and toward one's fellow human beings. So understood, it offers an effective cure for what he terms "the social disease called political cynicism." Feisty and provocative, Radical Democracy is sure to inspire debate.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

185 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Charles Douglas Lummis (b.1936) is a writer, former professor at Tsuda College in Tokyo and former U.S. Marine.

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some thinkers have the ability to use common sense almost like a knife, cutting apart commonly held ideas to expose the false presuppositions on which they are based. Lummis is such a thinker, and his examination of modern political and economic culture reveals the anti-democratic core of our society, from the structure of our political institutions to our organization of work (including the anti-democratic nature of many machines and managerial culture).
Lummis' analysis in itself may not be very surprising. What is perhaps more unique about his work is its hopeful outlook. It is not a critique intended merely to create dissatisfaction with the status quo (though certainly it achieves that); ultimately, it aims to persuade us in the potential for public hope in the possibility of a different type of world, in "democratic faith," and in the desirability and feasibility of trusting in others - not in systems, institutions, or governments, but in actual people. I think that Lummis manages to accomplish this and does so in a realistic, non-naive fashion.
The book is also highly readable (I would say enjoyably so), which is also something of a rarity for the depth of the ideas it contains.

[Emily Alvarado · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book completely changed the way that i think about governance and i suppose you could say "politics" but im not talking about the kind of politics that prioritizes what Barack Obama's freakin pastor said 10 years ago.....(IE BS) im talking about broader social relations and how it is that we choose (or dont choose) to organize and govern ourselves. If you think you know what democracy is.....read this. Then lets be best friends.