The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism
Updated edition with a new post-script
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Publishing:10th Nov '26
£16.99
This title is due to be published on 10th November, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
A magnificent reckoning of how and why the marriage between democracy and capitalism is coming undone - now updated with a new post-script: "The Great Undoing"
We are living in an age when economic failings have shaken faith in global capitalism. Political failings have undermined trust in liberal democracy and in the very notion of truth. The ties that ought to bind open markets to free and fair elections are being strained and rejected, even in democracy's notional heartlands.
Around the world, democratic capitalism, which depends on the determined separation of power from wealth, is in crisis. Some now argue that capitalism is better without democracy; others that democracy is better without capitalism.
This book is a forceful rejoinder to both views. It analyses how the marriage between capitalism and democracy has become so fraught and yet insists that a divorce would be an almost unimaginable calamity. Martin Wolf, one of the wisest public voices on global affairs, argues that for all its recent failings - slowing growth, increasing inequality, widespread popular disillusion - democratic capitalism, though inherently fragile, remains the best system we know for human flourishing.
Wolf's urgent new postscript, 'The Great Undoing' argues that America under Trump is heading the march away from liberal democracy towards a fusion of corrupted capitalism with authoritarianism. At home and abroad Trump has undermined institutions and abandoned US commitments to democratic liberties. Nations still committed to free elections, free markets and civil and political rights must now work even harder to keep the light of personal and political freedom shining. It will be a long and hard struggle to undo the damage the Trump administration has done and is still doing.
Capitalism and democracy are complementary opposites: they need each other if either is to thrive. Wolf's superb exploration of their marriage shows us how citizenship and a shared faith in the common good are not romantic slogans but the essential foundation of our economic and political freedom.
Martin Wolf brings together many decades' worth of thought and analysis into this superb synthesis. An important guide for anyone seeking answers to the most difficult questions of our time.
The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism will reach a wide and powerful audience. It will be read by world leaders and CEOs. If it convinces some of them to change tack, away from the plutocratic path that national and international economies are currently on, then we should all be grateful. * New Statesman *
a cri de coeur ... This book, impressively researched, is ... a mine of information for anybody wanting to know about the forces driving the global economy in recent decades ... Democracy is the worst form of government - except for all the others, as Churchill once said. And the same is true of capitalism relative to other forms of economic organisation. Fixing both is the task. * Sunday Times *
The book's power lies in Wolf's central perception and the scale of the canvas he uses to illustrate it. The problems he describes - inequality, lack of social mobility, slowing productivity gains, the influence of money over politics, disaffection with democracy - are familiar, but by identifying them collectively as causes of the calamity he foresees, he gives new urgency to the need to address them. * The Times *
Martin Wolf is one of the world's most influential economists ... His new book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, is both his magnum opus and an explanation of his crisis of faith. ... Wolf argues that democracy and capitalism are complementary opposites: Opposites because capitalism depends on inequality of rewards while democracy depends on political equality, complementary because they both enshrine the principle of individual choice. But in recent decades this marriage of opposites has been falling apart, most importantly in the supposed standard-bearer of democratic capitalism, the United States. ... a penetrating analysis of Western society's ills * Bloomberg *
The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism draws on the wisdom accumulated over his distinguished career... The case he makes is authoritative and compelling. * Economist *
The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism will reach a wide and powerful audience. It will be read by world leaders and CEOs. If it convinces some of them to change tack, away from the plutocratic path that national and international economies are currently on, then we should all be grateful. * New Statesman *
Martin Wolf shines a light on the doom loop of democratic capitalism ... in his fine new book * Financial Times *
ISBN: 9781837310012
Dimensions: 198mm x 130mm x 27mm
Weight: 402g
576 pages