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This is the fourth volume in the "Major Conservative and
Libertarian Thinkers" series. Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) was one
of the foremost economic thinkers of the twentieth century. Today
Schumpeter is most well-known for his idea of 'creative
destruction'. This is the notion that a market economy is
simultaneously creative and destructive and therein lies the
process of renewal that is central to the endurance and also the
unpopularity of capitalism. Schumpeter's work also contains one of
the most important conservative critiques of mass democracy.
Schumpeter argued that mass democracy had totalitarian tendencies
and was likely to degenerate into the tyranny of the popular.
Is political theory political enough? Or does a tendency toward
abstraction, idealization, moralism, and utopianism leave
contemporary political theory out of touch with real politics as it
actually takes place, and hence unable to speak meaningfully to or
about our world? Realist political thought, which has enjoyed a
significant revival of interest in recent years, seeks to avoid
such pitfalls by remaining attentive to the distinctiveness of
politics and the ways its realities ought to shape how we think and
act in the political realm. Politics Recovered brings together
prominent scholars to develop what it might mean to theorize
politics "realistically." Intervening in philosophical debates such
as the relationship between politics and morality and the role that
facts and emotions should play in the theorization of political
values, the volume addresses how a realist approach aids our
understanding of pressing issues such as global justice,
inequality, poverty, political corruption, the value of democracy,
governmental secrecy, and demands for transparency. Contributors
open up fruitful dialogues with a variety of other realist
approaches, such as feminist theory, democratic theory, and
international relations. By exploring the nature and prospects of
realist thought, Politics Recovered shows how political theory can
affirm reality in order to provide meaningful and compelling
answers to the fundamental questions of political life.
Is infrequent voting the most we can expect from a free citizenry?
Would democracy be more robust if our political discourse were more
deliberative? John Medearis's trenchant and trend-bucking work of
political philosophy argues that democracies face significant
challenges that go beyond civic lethargy and unreasonable debate.
Democracy is inherently a fragile state of affairs, he reminds us.
Revisiting fundamental questions about the system in theory and
practice, Why Democracy Is Oppositional helps us see why preserving
democracy has always been-and will always be-a struggle. As
citizens of democracies seek political control over their
destinies, they confront forces that threaten to dominate their
lives. These forces may take the form of runaway financial markets,
powerful special interests, expanding militaries, or dysfunctional
legislatures. But citizens of democracies help create the very
institutions that overwhelm them. Hostile threats do not generally
come from the outside but are the product of citizens' own
collective activities. Medearis contends that democratic action
perpetually arises to reclaim egalitarian control over social
forces and institutions that have become alienated from large
numbers of citizens. Democracy is therefore necessarily
oppositional. Concerted, contentious political activities of all
kinds are fundamental to it, while consensus and easy compromise
are rarities. Recovering insights from political theorists such as
Karl Marx and John Dewey, Why Democracy Is Oppositional addresses
contemporary issues ranging from the global financial crisis and
economic inequality to drone warfare and mass incarceration.
Joseph Schumpeter (1883 - 1950) was one of the foremost economic
thinkers of the twentieth century. Today Schumpeter is most
well-known for his idea of 'creative destruction'. This is the
notion that a market economy is simultaneously creative and
destructive and therein lies the process of renewal that is central
to the endurance and also the unpopularity of capitalism.
Schumpeter's work also contains one of the most important
conservative critiques of mass democracy. Schumpeter argued that
mass democracy had totalitarian tendencies and was likely to
degenerate into the tyranny of the popular.
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