Two book reviews of "Democracy Rules"

[ltlee1]

1. "D J F
4.0 out of 5 stars Part informative and persuasive, part a leap of faith
too many
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 2, 2021
Amazon Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Democracy is – or should be – at the very heart of civilised society
but, Jan-Werner Müller argues in his new book “Democracy Rules” it is
under attack in the 21st Century. Müller is Professor of Politics at
Princeton University in New Jersey, USA and has been author of several
books, most recently “What Is Populism?”. That’s where Müller leads off,
with the first chapter dedicated to what he describes as ‘Fake
Democracy”. This chapter is a critique of the political mindset of the
Populist, comparing it to Authoritarianism but deftly skewering what
makes Populism – and in particular right-wing Populism tick. Whilst
left-wing subjects are spoken about it seems as if these are in passing
as Müller’s concentration is clearly on right-wing examples. That’s
perhaps one of the weaknesses of the book, its sense of balance is
written seemingly from a left-wing perspective. I’m always happy to read
widely from different perspectives to get an overall sense of balance as
I’m no fan of developing unshakable perspectives, but some readers may
not be as amenable – just the trap Müller is leading readers into who
approach this book with a closed mind.

That first chapter contains what I’d rate as probably the best
explanation of what motivates the Populist and the (stereotypically)
closed mindset they adopt, and how their tactics differ from mainstream
politicians. Müller explains that broadly speaking it is based on
Nationalism and warns that there can often be racist undertones. What
they crucially claim according to Müller is that they – and only they –
represent what they refer to alternatively as ‘real people’ or ‘the
silent majority’. This charges that all other contenders are
illegitimate. They also claim that their symbolic construction of ‘the
people’ means that those who do not support their views are treated as
outliers – effectively second-rate citizens, with Trump’s claims of
‘un-American’ condemnation of anyone who even questioned his motivations
mildly cited as a prime example.

Müller goes on to show Populists claim they are unifying the people or
uncovering unity that was always there, but the message is that only
some of a polity truly belong to the people. You can easily see from
these claims how racism crops up in the more extreme examples and how
vulnerable sections of society such as immigrants can feel marginalised.
An example from India of Amit Shah referring to immigrants as ‘Termites
of the soil’ is given, showing the meaning to be that Hindus represent
the ‘real’ people in Shah’s view and putting fear into a particular
minority – Muslims. Müller goes on to state that Populists “Constantly
seek to divide their societies” and hold up examples of what is ‘real’ –
therefore decrying difference. There are plenty more defining
characteristics, but I couldn’t help think of the recent arguments
surrounding the UK Government’s recent ‘flag flying’ initiative – one
view showing pride in the Union flag and defiance at being ‘free from
the tyranny of Europe’; the other waving a flag with a tainted history
deliberately in the face of Remainers (and thus showing who the ‘real’
people are) whilst evoking memories of Samuel Johnson’s famous statement
that “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”. Where you lie on
the polarised positions of that hot potato will potentially shape your
views on the strength of Müller’s argument in this chapter.

In Chapter 2 Müller goes on to define what is democracy – and shows that
the model used today technically isn’t it. Rather it is Representation,
showing that in the US and UK two major parties hold the majority of
power via the ‘first past the post’ system, demonstrating how skewed
things can become, with over and under-representation rife. Müller shows
that parties know areas which have either become disillusioned with the
political class and feel that they don’t speak for them, and so don’t
bother to vote. He cites a large vocalised misstep in Hillary Clinton’s
2016 campaign was not an infamous quote regarding ‘deplorables’ but a
casual remark where she stated that some citizens were ‘irredeemable’. I
was immediately reminded again of the polarisation the UK has endured
since 2016 and the Brexit vote, with arguments about the benefits and
detriments still rumbling on from a divided polity, and indeed Brexit
and Donald J Trump do get cited as prime examples of Populism winning
the day as early as page 1 of the preface. Both examined purely from the
perspective of campaigning were a great success, motivating people who
normally failed to vote to do just that thanks to Populist causes. Of
course non-politician Trump famously won the day in 2016 by appealing
directly to ‘the silent majority’ via Twitter™, decrying any news
organisation that didn’t wholeheartedly support him and his policies as
‘fake news’ whilst making demonstrably unfounded claims himself that
went largely unchallenged by his team members due to his authoritarian
style. There’s an interesting look back to the Athenian Greek system
which – for people with rights as ‘citizens’ (men of ethnic Athenian
descent) – truly was Democratic despite serving a privileged minority,
with a new leader appointed every 24 hours and around one in four
‘citizens’ getting to lead by rotation – truly ‘Buggin’s turn’.

The bulk of Müller’s examples are from a US perspective, but that
doesn’t stop him examining South American, Indian sub-continent and
European examples, there has been some looking for wider perspective
which I like, but which would have benefited from a deeper excavation of
the countries mentioned in passing. Despite this being a learned work it
isn’t particularly written in a formal or academic style – in fact it is
accessible for those with even a passing interest in the subject of
Democracy and Müller’s style certainly grabs the attention – at times
making confident claims which I’d expect to be backed up by references.
Some are, some appear to be opinion, and whilst the former is a standard
I would expect from an investigative book such as this the ‘leaps of
faith’ can grab the attention, making the read technically easy although
the points being made might appear a stretch for some readers. I found
some of Müller’s thinking informative and persuasive, making me ‘join
the dots’ to wider reading; but some of it making me raise an eyebrow at
one leap of faith too many. This is however undeniably a good read that
will almost certainly have you nodding your head in agreement at times
whilst challenging your perspective at others - just at different
times."

[ltlee1]

2.
"Red on Black
3.0 out of 5 stars "Democracy Rules" - Tired and muddled thinking to
solve the democratic crisis of the age.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 4, 2021
Amazon Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Some of the big political books of recent years have set the existential
condition of democracy at their heart. Think "How Democracy Ends" by
David Runciman, plus "How Democracies Dies" by Steven Levitsky and
Danial Ziblatt. More recently the historian Anne Applebaum wrote a
highly personal reflection in "The Twilight of Democracy" on why
democracies in the West and the East have gone wrong and the fleeting
commitment of previous "liberal" friends who have succumbed to lies,
populism and authoritarianism.

All these elements form part of Jan-Werner Muller's new book "Democracy
Rules" written in the aftermath of the storming of Congress and within
the context of a pandemic. He starts with a reassertion of democratic
values drawn from thinkers like Mill and Rawls namely liberty and
equality, but also he also recognises that uncertainty is also a central
feature. At the core of this book is a call for the need to
re-invigorate the intermediary institutions that have been deemed
essential for democracy’s success ever since the nineteenth century:
namely political parties and free media.

It is obvious that a system of democracy cannot be seen as a “single
product” for history shows that “democracy dwells in possibility”.
Likewise, while people are evidently dissatisfied with their democracies
“they are not turning away from democracy as a set of ideas”. He
recognizes that the critical infrastructure of democracy is in a state
of bad repair in many countries but maintains that there are signs of
hope.

Speaking personally, you struggle to find them in this book. Overall, it
says little that is new or radical. Indeed, writing this review has been
difficult because it hard to precisely pin down Muller’s core thesis.
After 180 pages of rather muddled thinking, Muller himself concludes
“that there is no particular reason to feel optimistic about democracy
at this point”. Biden’s victory over Trump offers some hope that the
authoritarian populist route might be running out of steam. Although the
fact that over 70 million could believe that an election was “stolen”
from them on the demonstrably false claims of 45th President and the
rotten core of the GOP really speaks volumes. Indeed the Republicans
show a political party that no longer plays an intermediary role but one
that is completely polarizing.

Then you look at Europe with Putin in Russia Orban in Hungary, Law and
Justice Party in Poland, and the possibility of a Marie Le Pen victory
in the French Presidential elections. And let's not get started on China
where it is clear that a capitalist system is perfectly adaptable to the
most authoritarian politics.

Finally in the UK note the electoral turnouts when it comes to local and
devolved government. Even worse are police and crime commissioners where
it is derisory. The idea that the answer to this is to reinvigorate
political parties, the free media and re-empower citizens really offers
a paucity of answers to the problems. Sadly, I’m afraid that Muller's
book is not destined to be added to the list of great political classics
on this subject."