The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism
Book formats
-
Hardcover No offers
Book short specifications
- Author
- Martin Wolf
- Pages
- 416
- Publisher
- Allen Lane
- Language
- english
- Release date
- February 2, 2023
- ISBN
- 978-0-241-30341-2
- GTIN
- 9780241303412
- Weight, g
- 750
About
Liberal democracy is in recession, and authoritarianism is on the rise. The ties that ought to bind open markets to free and fair elections are being strained, even spurned, even in democracy's notional heartlands, such as England and America. Around the world, powerful voices argue that capitalism is better without democracy. Other voices argue that democracy is better without capitalism. This book is a forceful rejoinder to both views. Even as it offers a deep, lucid assessment of why this marriage has grown so strained, it makes clear why a divorce between capitalism and democracy would be an almost unthinkable calamity.
Democratic capitalism has many enemies and few true friends. For all its flaws, Wolf argues, it remains the best system for human flourishing the world has seen, but something has gone seriously awry: the growth of prosperity has slowed, and the division of the fruits between the hyper-successful few and the rest has become more unequal. The oligarchs have retreated to their bastions, where they take a dim view of government and its ability to invest in the public goods needed to foster opportunity and sustainability. But the waters will rise to overwhelm them too in the end. Citizenship is not just a slogan or a romantic idea; it's the only force that can save us, Wolf argues. Nothing has ever harmonized political freedom and economic freedom better than a shared faith in the common good, and nothing ever will. This wise and rigorously fact-based exploration of the whole epic human story of the dynamic between democracy and capitalism lands on the lesson that our ideals and our interests not only should align- they must. For everyone's sake.