Democracy in the Headwinds

A sweeping account of liberal democracy’s rise, erosion, and last lines of defence.

Tracing the convergence of economic dislocation, digital disruption, and the polarisation of political life, Democracy in the Headwinds tells the story of liberal democracy’s rise, erosion, and last lines of defence; and demonstrates why mature democracies are under mounting pressure they were assumed to have outgrown.

A mob storms the United States Capitol. A Hungarian strongman hollows out courts, media, and civil society for sixteen years before being voted out in a landslide. In Britain, Brexit exposes the fragility of a constitution built on unwritten conventions. One in five Germans vote for a party classified by the state’s own security apparatus as a threat to the democratic order. What is going on – and how concerned should we be?

Tracing the convergence of economic dislocation, digital disruption, and the polarisation of political life, Democracy in the Headwinds tells the story of liberal democracy’s rise, erosion, and last lines of defence; and demonstrates why mature democracies are under mounting pressure they were assumed to have outgrown.