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The Inner Enemies of Democracy


The Inner Enemies of Democracy


1. Aufl.

von: Tzvetan Todorov

14,99 €

Verlag: Wiley
Format: PDF
Veröffentl.: 12.11.2014
ISBN/EAN: 9780745685762
Sprache: englisch
Anzahl Seiten: 200

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Beschreibungen

<p>The political history of the twentieth century can be viewed as the history of democracy’s struggle against its external enemies: fascism and communism. This struggle ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet regime. Some people think that democracy now faces new enemies: Islamic fundamentalism, religious extremism and international terrorism and that this is the struggle that will define our times. Todorov disagrees: the biggest threat to democracy today is democracy itself. Its enemies are within: what the ancient Greeks called 'hubris'.</p> <p>Todorov argues that certain democratic values have been distorted and pushed to an extreme that serves the interests of dominant states and powerful individuals. In the name of ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’, the United States and some European countries have embarked on a crusade to enlighten some foreign populations through the use of force. Yet this mission to ‘help’ others has led to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, to large-scale destruction and loss of life and to a moral crisis of growing proportions. The defence of freedom, if unlimited, can lead to the tyranny of individuals.</p> <p>Drawing on recent history as well as his own experience of growing up in a totalitarian regime, Todorov returns to examples borrowed from the Western canon: from a dispute between Augustine and Pelagius to the fierce debates among Enlightenment thinkers to explore the origin of these perversions of democracy. He argues compellingly that the real democratic ideal is to be found in the delicate, ever-changing balance between competing principles, popular sovereignty, freedom and progress. When one of these elements breaks free and turns into an over-riding principle, it becomes dangerous: populism, ultra-liberalism and messianism, the inner enemies of democracy.</p>
<p><b>1 Democracy and its Discontents 1</b></p> <p>The paradoxes of freedom 1</p> <p>External and internal enemies 4</p> <p>Democracy threatened by its own hubris 7</p> <p><b>2 An Ancient Controversy 12</b></p> <p>The main characters 12</p> <p>Pelagius: will and perfection 14</p> <p>Augustine: the unconscious and original sin 19</p> <p>The outcome of the debate 22</p> <p><b>3 Political Messianism 29</b></p> <p>The revolutionary moment 29</p> <p>The first wave: revolutionary and colonial wars 33</p> <p>The second wave: the Communist project 37</p> <p>The third wave: imposing democracy by bombs 45</p> <p>The Iraq war 48</p> <p>The internal damage: torture 50</p> <p>The war in Afghanistan 53</p> <p>The temptations of pride and power 57</p> <p>The war in Libya: the decision 59</p> <p>The war in Libya: the implementation 62</p> <p>Idealists and realists 67</p> <p>Politics in the face of morality and justice 71</p> <p><b>4 The Tyranny of Individuals 78</b></p> <p>Protecting individuals 78</p> <p>Explaining human behaviour 81</p> <p>Communism and neoliberalism 87</p> <p>The fundamentalist temptation 91</p> <p>Neoliberalism’s blind spots 97</p> <p>Freedom and attachment 101</p> <p><b>5 The Effects of Neoliberalism 104</b></p> <p>Blame it on science? 104</p> <p>The law retreats 109</p> <p>Loss of meaning 113</p> <p>Management techniques 116</p> <p>The power of the media 125</p> <p>Freedom of public speech 128</p> <p>The limits of freedom 134</p> <p><b>6 Populism and Xenophobia 139</b></p> <p>The rise of populism 139</p> <p>Populist discourse 142</p> <p>National identity 147</p> <p>Down with multiculturalism: the German case 150</p> <p>Britain and France 153</p> <p>The debate about headscarves 156</p> <p>One debate can hide another 162</p> <p>Relations with foreigners 166</p> <p>Living together better 168</p> <p><b>7 The Future of Democracy 173</b></p> <p>Democracy, dream and reality 173</p> <p>The enemy within us 179</p> <p>Towards renewal? 184</p> <p>Notes 189</p> <p>Index 197</p>
<p>One of the great intellectuals of our time.<br /> <b>Stanley Hoffmann, Harvard University<br /> <br /> <br /> </b></p> <p>This is a voice to be listened to attentively, for our shared planetary home's and all its residents' sake.<br /> <b>Zygmunt Bauman, University of Leeds<br /> </b></p> <p>Now, of all times, there is a need for cool heads, such as Todorov, who approaches the limits of free speech with admirable dexterity.<br /> <b>The New York Review of Books</b></p> <p><br /> A coherent, relevant work in which intelligence and sincere humanism do battle Ð a world away from the slippery moralizing of intellectual fence-sitters.<br /> <b>Le Nouvel Observateur<br /> </b></p> <p>Todorov’s work is that of a sage, a man who has read the great texts, who has lived through two political regimes, and who dares to express an idea that may seem at odds with his fervent defence of freedom and democracy: freedom for its own sake, freedom that forgets its duties and responsibilities, is self-destructive. What he writes is never ordinary, but always tolerant and life affirming.<br /> <b>L’Echo</b></p>
<p><strong>Tzvetan Todorov</strong> is Director of Research at the CNRS in Paris.

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