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The Ideology of Democratism
A unique reinterpretation of democracy that shows how history's most vocal champions of democracy from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Jefferson to John Rawls have contributed to a pervasive, anti-democratic ideology, effectively redefining democracy to mean "rule by the elites."
The rise of global populism reveals a tension in Western thinking about democracy. Warnings about the "populist threat" to democracy and "authoritarian" populism are now commonplace. However, as Emily B. Finley argues in The Ideology of Democratism, dismissing "populism" as anti-democratic is highly problematic. In effect, such arguments essentially reject the actual popular will in favor of a purely theoretical and abstract "will of the people."
She contends that the West has conceptualized democracy-not just its populist doppelg?nger-as an ideal that has all of the features of a thoroughgoing political ideology which she labels "democratism." As she shows, this understanding of democracy, which constitutes an entire view of life and politics, has been and remains a powerful influence in America and leading Western European nations and their colonial satellites. Through a careful analysis of several of history's most vocal champions of democracy, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, John Rawls, and American neoconservatives and liberal internationalists, Finley identifies an interpretation of democracy that effectively transforms the meaning of "rule by the people" into nearly its opposite. Making use of democratic language and claiming to speak for the people, many politicians, philosophers, academics, and others advocate a more "complete" and "genuine" form of democracy that in practice has little regard for the actual popular will.
A heterodox argument that challenges the prevailing consensus of what democracy is and what it is supposed be, The Ideology of Democratism offers a timely and comprehensive assessment of the features and thrust of this powerful new view of democracy that has enchanted the West.
The rise of global populism reveals a tension in Western thinking about democracy. Warnings about the "populist threat" to democracy and "authoritarian" populism are now commonplace. However, as Emily B. Finley argues in The Ideology of Democratism, dismissing "populism" as anti-democratic is highly problematic. In effect, such arguments essentially reject the actual popular will in favor of a purely theoretical and abstract "will of the people."
She contends that the West has conceptualized democracy-not just its populist doppelg?nger-as an ideal that has all of the features of a thoroughgoing political ideology which she labels "democratism." As she shows, this understanding of democracy, which constitutes an entire view of life and politics, has been and remains a powerful influence in America and leading Western European nations and their colonial satellites. Through a careful analysis of several of history's most vocal champions of democracy, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, John Rawls, and American neoconservatives and liberal internationalists, Finley identifies an interpretation of democracy that effectively transforms the meaning of "rule by the people" into nearly its opposite. Making use of democratic language and claiming to speak for the people, many politicians, philosophers, academics, and others advocate a more "complete" and "genuine" form of democracy that in practice has little regard for the actual popular will.
A heterodox argument that challenges the prevailing consensus of what democracy is and what it is supposed be, The Ideology of Democratism offers a timely and comprehensive assessment of the features and thrust of this powerful new view of democracy that has enchanted the West.
230 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 2, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 18, 2023
This book deserves a full length review on my blog and maybe one day it will get one. However, since I suspect I will be referencing it quite directly in my writing elsewhere in the near future I am going to keep this short for the time being.
This is the best summary of a unified phenomenon, particularly among the professional managerial class, where an idealistic and universal version of liberal internationalism/neoconservativism ties together the views of Anglo-American elites in support of social engineering and hawkish foreign policy. Finley charts the course of this ideology born of Rousseau through its various and increasingly American permutations from Jefferson through Wilson and Bush and brings in a few other figures too, showing the supposedly rational world view that condemns the United States and many of its allies to become perpetual ideological empires.
But this is not just a deconstruction of a ruling class ideology which both hates populism but also loves democracy (a strange dichotomy explained more within the text), but also a vital understanding of why the policy making discussion among elites is so uniform, uncreative, and often leads to disastrous policies.
Though I was not familiar with Finley's work until this month, we seem to be noticing a similar trends, as my own report (not a book but a think tank analysis paper) on a similar topic came out only 5 weeks before the release of her book, and you can find this here:
https://peacediplomacy.org/wp-content...
Edit April 18th:
I wrote more about this book and its themes here too:
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/...
This is the best summary of a unified phenomenon, particularly among the professional managerial class, where an idealistic and universal version of liberal internationalism/neoconservativism ties together the views of Anglo-American elites in support of social engineering and hawkish foreign policy. Finley charts the course of this ideology born of Rousseau through its various and increasingly American permutations from Jefferson through Wilson and Bush and brings in a few other figures too, showing the supposedly rational world view that condemns the United States and many of its allies to become perpetual ideological empires.
But this is not just a deconstruction of a ruling class ideology which both hates populism but also loves democracy (a strange dichotomy explained more within the text), but also a vital understanding of why the policy making discussion among elites is so uniform, uncreative, and often leads to disastrous policies.
Though I was not familiar with Finley's work until this month, we seem to be noticing a similar trends, as my own report (not a book but a think tank analysis paper) on a similar topic came out only 5 weeks before the release of her book, and you can find this here:
https://peacediplomacy.org/wp-content...
Edit April 18th:
I wrote more about this book and its themes here too:
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/...
March 11, 2024
Excellent and very insightful book about democratism, its origins and how it impact us today.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews