Demagogues and Despots

Democracy and despotism live closer together than youd expectin this briskly astute book, a leading political thinker reveals why that should alarm us all.We live in troubled times, marked by a sinister trend gaining the upper hand everywhere: a new despotism for the twenty-first century.John Keanes latest book rings out boldly with a powerful warning: the keyword for understanding the new threats to democracy is despotism. This peril arises not only from regimes as different as Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, but also from popularly elected demagogues opposed to power- sharing, from Orbns Hungary and Sheinbaums Mexico to Netanyahus Israel and Trumps America.Keane shows why this new despotism defies the laws of political gravity. More than fear or raw force, it pursues a strange, pseudo-democratic type of government, led by rulers skilled in winning public loyalty through election-rigging, legal trickery, weaponised lying and talk of enemies. Whats more, alarmingly, these leaders hunt in packs.But whats so good about democracy? In prose humming with energy, Keane shows that its much more than popular self-government based on free and fair elections. Democracy is a collective insistence that unaccountable power is always dangerous and its the best way to stop demagogues and despots from ruining life on our planet.