'Lively. . . This is one of those rare books about a pressing subject that reads less like a forced march than an inviting stroll . . . A book that encourages thinking, observation and discernment' New York Times One of our most essential political thinkers offers a vital account of democracy in the twenty-first century Everyone knows that democracy is in trouble, but do we know what democracy actually is? Political philosopher Jan-Werner Muller, author of the widely acclaimed What Is Populism?, takes us back to basics. In this short, elegant volume, he explains how democracy is founded on three vital principles: liberty, equality, and also uncertainty. The latter, he argues, is crucial for ensuring democracy's dynamic and creative character. Authoritarians, as well as Big Tech, seek to render politics (and individual citizens) predictable; democracy holds open the possibility that new ideas, movements and identities can be created. Acknowledging fully the dangers posed by populism, by kleptocratic autocracies like Russia's and by the digital authoritarianism of Xi, Muller also challenges the assumptions made by many liberals defending democracy in recent years. He shows how the secession of plutocratic elites in the West has undermined much of democracy's promise. In response, we need to re-invigorate our institutions, especially political parties and professional media, but also make it easier for citizens to mobilize. Taking on many of the most difficult political questions we face, this book is a vital rethinking of what democracy is, and how we can reinvent our social contract.

The sociologist Daniel Bell was an uncommonly acute observer of the structural forces transforming the United States and other advanced societies in the twentieth century. The titles of Bell's major books-The End of Ideology (1960), The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973), and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976)-became hotly debated frameworks for understanding the era when they were published. In Defining the Age, Paul Starr and Julian E. Zelizer bring together a group of distinguished contributors to consider how well Bell's ideas captured their historical moment and continue to provide profound insights into today's world. Wide-ranging essays demonstrate how Bell's writing has informed thinking about subjects such as the history of socialism, the roots of the radical right, the emerging postindustrial society, and the role of the university. The book also examines Bell's intellectual trajectory and distinctive political stance. Calling himself "a socialist in economics, a liberal in politics, and a conservative in culture," he resisted being pigeon-holed, especially as a neoconservative. Defining the Age features essays from historians Jenny Andersson, David A. Bell, Michael Kazin, and Margaret O'Mara; sociologist Steven Brint; media scholar Fred Turner; and political theorists Jan-Werner Muller and Stefan Eich. While differing in their judgments, they agree on one premise: Bell's ideas deserve the kind of nuanced and serious attention that they finally receive in this book.

How has memory--collective and individual--influenced European politics in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Cold War? How has the past been used in domestic struggles for power, and how have 'historical lessons' been applied in foreign policy? This book is the first to examine the connection between memory and politics directly. The chapters combine theoretical innovation with historical, empirically-grounded case studies of major European countries. This ground-breaking book will be of interest to historians of contemporary Europe, political scientists and sociologists.

How has memory--collective and individual--influenced European politics in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Cold War? How has the past been used in domestic struggles for power, and how have 'historical lessons' been applied in foreign policy? This book is the first to examine the connection between memory and politics directly. The chapters combine theoretical innovation with historical, empirically-grounded case studies of major European countries. This ground-breaking book will be of interest to historians of contemporary Europe, political scientists and sociologists.

The sociologist Daniel Bell was an uncommonly acute observer of the structural forces transforming the United States and other advanced societies in the twentieth century. The titles of Bell's major books-The End of Ideology (1960), The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973), and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976)-became hotly debated frameworks for understanding the era when they were published. In Defining the Age, Paul Starr and Julian E. Zelizer bring together a group of distinguished contributors to consider how well Bell's ideas captured their historical moment and continue to provide profound insights into today's world. Wide-ranging essays demonstrate how Bell's writing has informed thinking about subjects such as the history of socialism, the roots of the radical right, the emerging postindustrial society, and the role of the university. The book also examines Bell's intellectual trajectory and distinctive political stance. Calling himself "a socialist in economics, a liberal in politics, and a conservative in culture," he resisted being pigeon-holed, especially as a neoconservative. Defining the Age features essays from historians Jenny Andersson, David A. Bell, Michael Kazin, and Margaret O'Mara; sociologist Steven Brint; media scholar Fred Turner; and political theorists Jan-Werner Muller and Stefan Eich. While differing in their judgments, they agree on one premise: Bell's ideas deserve the kind of nuanced and serious attention that they finally receive in this book.

'Lively. . . This is one of those rare books about a pressing subject that reads less like a forced march than an inviting stroll . . . A book that encourages thinking, observation and discernment' New York Times One of our most essential political thinkers offers a vital account of democracy in the twenty-first century Everyone knows that democracy is in trouble, but do we know what democracy actually is? Political philosopher Jan-Werner Muller, author of the widely acclaimed What Is Populism?, takes us back to basics. In this short, elegant volume, he explains how democracy is founded on three vital principles: liberty, equality, and also uncertainty. The latter, he argues, is crucial for ensuring democracy's dynamic and creative character. Authoritarians, as well as Big Tech, seek to render politics (and individual citizens) predictable; democracy holds open the possibility that new ideas, movements and identities can be created. Acknowledging fully the dangers posed by populism, by kleptocratic autocracies like Russia's and by the digital authoritarianism of Xi, Muller also challenges the assumptions made by many liberals defending democracy in recent years. He shows how the secession of plutocratic elites in the West has undermined much of democracy's promise. In response, we need to re-invigorate our institutions, especially political parties and professional media, but also make it easier for citizens to mobilize. Taking on many of the most difficult political questions we face, this book is a vital rethinking of what democracy is, and how we can reinvent our social contract.

"I do not know a more precise or more careful account of the political and intellectual-historical context in which the debate about constitutional patriotism unfolded initially. Above all Jan-Werner Muller offers a masterful interpretation of this important concept, which clarifies many misunderstandings."--Jurgen Habermas

"Jan-Werner Muller provides a wonderfully lucid (and for the American reader absolutely necessary) account of the German history of 'constitutional patriotism, ' and then he develops and applies this important idea to the circumstances of the European Union. He asks us to imagine a mode of attachment to 'Europe' based not on blood or faith but on civic engagement, democratic decision making, and the appropriation and critique of a common (and sometimes not so common) history. This is exemplary political theory: an argument about things that matter here and now."--Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study

"How can 'political space' catch up with the ever-widening economic space in our era of accelerating globalization? Will Europe be able to show us the way to a political community that does not require antagonism towards the 'other' to foster cohesion and acquire legitimacy? Jan-Werner Muller's analysis and ideas are central to the great debates of our time."--Kemal Dervis, chair of the United Nations Development Group

"Given currency by Jurgen Habermas in the late l980s, 'constitutional patriotism' has emerged as an appealing principle for post-national political allegiance. Jan-Werner Muller traces the long postwar history of the concept, takes honest account of the conservative critiques it has provoked, but proposes that it can serve as a robust normfor European Union citizenship. This is a profound meditation with real importance for contemporary political society."--Charles S. Maier, Harvard University

""Constitutional Patriotism" provides the most thorough and insightful discussion available on the subject of constitutional patriotism. One of its major achievements is to help us assess the strengths and weaknesses of different recent approaches to social cohesion."--Glyn Morgan, Harvard University

"This book stands alone in clarifying the idea of constitutional patriotism analytically and historically while also linking it to debates about forms of solidarity in the European Union. What I especially like is the form of constitutional patriotism the book ends up endorsing for the EU--a 'thin' form with an emphasis on political morality and a commitment to public argument rather than memory and militancy."--Joshua Cohen, Stanford University

In this brilliant guide to modern European political ideas and thinkers spans the twentieth century, the author illuminates both the twentieth-century's ideological extremes and how Europeans built lasting liberal democracies in the second half of the century. This book is the first major account of political thought in twentieth-century Europe, both West and East, to appear since the end of the Cold War. Skillfully blending intellectual, political, and cultural history, Jan-Werner Muller elucidates the ideas that shaped the period of ideological extremes before 1945 and the liberalization of West European politics after the Second World War. He also offers vivid portraits of famous as well as unjustly forgotten political thinkers and the movements and institutions they inspired. Muller pays particular attention to ideas advanced to justify fascism and how they relate to the special kind of liberal democracy that was created in postwar Western Europe. He also explains the impact of the 1960s and neoliberalism, ending with a critical assessment of today's self-consciously post-ideological age.

How did German intellectuals react to unification and how have they conceived the country's national identity and its new interantional position? This important book not only examines changing notions of nationhood and their complicated relationship to the Nazi past but also charts the wider development of German political thought since the Second World War - while critically reflecting on some of the continuing blind spots among German writers and thinkers. Muller explains why many intellectuals reacted defensively to unification and why unification plunged the Left in particular into a major crisis that has yet to be overcome. He analyses the responses of Gunter Grass, Jurgen Habermas and others of the so-called 'sceptical generation', who broke with the tradition of the illiberal interwar intellectuals and reinvented themselves as a 'democratic elite' who sought to transform political culture after the War - and tried to do so again after 1989. He discusses the German idea of 'constitutional patriotism' as well as the anti-nationalism of the 'generation of 1968', and provides the first full-scale analysis of Germany's 'New Right'.Written clearly and elegantly, this book assesses the acrimonious debates about the future of the nation-state and public memory in Germany and offers more general reflections on the role intellectuals can play in post-totalitarian societies. Jan-Werner Muller is a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He has held a senior visiting fellowship at the Remarque Institute, New York University and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for European Studies, Harvard University.

Donald Trump, Silvio Berlusconi, Marine Le Pen, Hugo Chavez-populists are on the rise across the globe. But what exactly is populism? Should everyone who criticizes Wall Street or Washington be called a populist? What precisely is the difference between right-wing and left-wing populism? Does populism bring government closer to the people or is it a threat to democracy? Who are "the people" anyway and who can speak in their name? These questions have never been more pressing. In this groundbreaking volume, Jan-Werner Muller argues that at populism's core is a rejection of pluralism. Populists will always claim that they and they alone represent the people and their true interests. Muller also shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, populists can govern on the basis of their claim to exclusive moral representation of the people: if populists have enough power, they will end up creating an authoritarian state that excludes all those not considered part of the proper "people." The book proposes a number of concrete strategies for how liberal democrats should best deal with populists and, in particular, how to counter their claims to speak exclusively for "the silent majority" or "the real people." Analytical, accessible, and provocative, What Is Populism? is grounded in history and draws on examples from Latin America, Europe, and the United States to define the characteristics of populism and the deeper causes of its electoral successes in our time.

Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) was one of the twentieth century's most brilliant and disturbing critics of liberalism. He was also one of the most important intellectuals to offer his services to the Nazis, for which he was dubbed the "crown jurist of the Third Reich." Despite this fateful alliance Schmitt has exercised a profound influence on post-war European political and legal thought-on both the Right and the Left. In this illuminating book, Jan-Werner Muller traces for the first time the permutations of Schmitt's ideas after the Second World War and relates them to broader political developments in Europe. Offering a fresh account of Schmitt's life and career along with discussions of his key concepts, Muller explains why interest in the political theorist continues. He assesses the current uses of Schmitt's thought in debates on globalization and the quest for a liberal world order. He also offers new insights into the liberalization of political thinking in post-authoritarian societies and the persistent vulnerabilities and blind spots of certain strands of Western liberalism.

'This lucid guide is essential reading' Guardian From Donald Trump to Recep Erdogan, populists are on the rise across the globe. But what exactly is populism? Should everyone who criticizes Wall Street or Washington be called a populist? What precisely is the difference between right-wing and left-wing populism? Does populism bring government closer to the people or is it a threat to democracy? Who are "the people" anyway and who can speak in their name? These questions have never been more pressing. In this provocative book, Jan-Werner Muller argues that at populism's core is a rejection of pluralism. Populists will always claim that they and they alone represent the people and their true interests. Contrary to conventional wisdom, populists can govern on the basis of their claim to exclusive moral representation of the people: if populists have enough power, they will end up creating an authoritarian state that excludes all those not considered part of the proper "people". Proposing a number of concrete strategies for how liberal democrats should best deal with populists, Muller shows how to counter their claims to speak exclusively for "the silent majority". *Updated with a new afterword*

This book offers a succinct re-examination of Berlin's Cold War liberalism, at a time when many observers worry about the emergence of a new Cold War. Two chapters look closely at Berlin's liberalism in a Cold War context, one carefully analyses whether Berlin was offering a universal political theory - and argues that he did indeed (already at the time of the Cold War there were worries that Berlin was a kind of relativist). It will be of value for scholars of the cold war and of security issues in contemporary Asia, as well as students of history and philosophy.