Although the last half of the twentieth century has been called the
Age of Democracy, the twenty-first has already demonstrated the
fragility of its apparent triumph as the dominant form of
government throughout the world.
Reassessing the fate of democracy for our time, distinguished
political theorist Ralph Ketcham traces the evolution of this idea
over the course of four hundred years. He traces democracy's bumpy
ride in a book that is both an exercise in the history of ideas and
an explication of democratic theory.
Ketcham examines the rationales for democratic government,
identifies the fault lines that separate democracy from good
government, and suggests ways to strengthen it in order to meet
future challenges. Drawing on an encyclopedic command of history
and politics, he examines the rationales that have been offered for
democratic government over the course of four manifestations of
modernity that he identifies in the Western and East Asian world
since 1600.
Ketcham first considers the fundamental axioms established by
theorists of the Enlightenment-Bacon, Locke, Jefferson-and
reflected in America's founding, then moves on to the mostly
post-Darwinian critiques by Bentham, Veblen, Dewey, and others that
produced theories of the liberal corporate state. He explains
late-nineteenth-century Asian responses to democracy as the third
manifestation, grounded in Confucian respect for communal and
hierarchical norms, followed by late-twentieth-century
postmodernist thought that views democratic states as oppressive
and seeks to empower marginalized groups.
br>Ketcham critiques the first, second, and fourth modernity
rationales for democracy and suggests that the Asian approach may
represent a reconciliation of ancient wisdom and modern science
better suited to today's world. He advocates a reorientation of
democracy that de-emphasizes group or identity politics and
restores the wholeness of the civic community, proposing a return
to the Jeffersonian universalism--that which informed the founding
of the United States-if democracy is to flourish in a fifth
manifestation.
"The Idea of Democracy in the Modern Era" is an erudite,
interdisciplinary work of great breadth and complexity that looks
to the past in order to reframe the future. With its global
overview and comparative insights, it will stimulate discussion of
how democracy can survive-and thrive-in the coming era.
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