Why Democracies Flounder and Fail

Description

Democracy is in crisis because voices of the people are ignored due to a politics of mass society. After demonstrating how the French Fourth Republic failed, wherein Singapore’s totalitarianism is a dangerous model, Washington is enmeshed in gridlock, and there is a global democracy deficit, solutions are offered to revitalize democracy as the best form of government. The book demonstrates how mass society politics operates, with intermediate institutions of civil society (media, pressure groups, political parties) no longer transmitting the will of the people to government but instead are concerned with corporate interests and have developed oligarchical mindsets. Rather than micro-remedy bandaids, the author focuses on the need to transform governing philosophies from pragmatic to humanistic solutions. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Front Matter ....Pages 1-3 Democracy: Components and Types (Michael Haas)....Pages 5-29 Mass Society Paradigm (Michael Haas)....Pages 31-65 Front Matter ....Pages 67-68 Immobilism in the French Fourth Republic (Michael Haas)....Pages 69-98 Singapore’s Totalitarian Mass Society (Michael Haas)....Pages 99-138 Gridlock in Washington (Michael Haas)....Pages 139-227 Global Mass Society (Michael Haas)....Pages 229-287 Front Matter ....Pages 289-290 Remedies for the Perils of Mass Society (Michael Haas)....Pages 291-313 Back Matter ....Pages 315-523