{"product_id":"9781805265221","title":"Demagogues and Despots","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDemocracy and despotism live closer together than you'd expect-this briskly astute book reveals why that should alarm us all.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe live in troubled times, marked by a sinister trend threatening democracy everywhere: the triumph of despotism not only in countries like Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also in states run by popularly elected demagogues-Trump, Erdogan and Netanyahu.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLeading political thinker John Keane shows why this new despotism defies the laws of political gravity. Instead of relying exclusively on fear or force, it fosters a strange, pseudo-democratic type of government, led by rulers skilled in winning public loyalty through election-rigging, legal trickery, corruption, weaponised lying and talk of enemies. And alarmingly, the new despots hunt in packs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut what's so good about democracy? In bold, energetic prose, Keane explains that it's much more than popular self-government based on free and fair elections. Democracy is the collective insistence that unaccountable power is always dangerous-and that democratic institutions are our best weapon against demagogues and despots.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hurst \u0026#38; Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57145958760821,"sku":"9781805265221","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0289\/5334\/6096\/files\/9781805265221.jpg?v=1778241671","url":"https:\/\/goldenharebooks.com\/products\/9781805265221","provider":"Golden Hare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}