An Introduction to Democracy - Softcover

Butler; Eamonn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 025536797X ISBN 13: 9780255367974

Publisher: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2021

Synopsis

What is democracy? How does it work? What are its strengths – and its shortcomings? Two-thirds of the world’s population, in over 100 countries, live under governments that claim to be democratic. Yet few of those governments live up to the ideals of democracy, or respect its key principles and institutions. Here, author Eamonn Butler defines democracy, explains its purposes, and shows the difference between genuine democracy and the many sham versions that currently exist. He outlines the history of democracy and the benefits it brings. But he also points out the many myths about it that blind us to its limitations. And he explains why it’s important to have a clear understanding of democracy – and how easily it can be lost or abused when people do not properly understand it. Importantly, he asks why so many people today have become disillusioned with democratic politics – and what, if anything, can be done about it.This lucid and fascinating book provides a straightforward introduction to democracy, enabling anyone to understand it – even if they’ve never experienced it.

About this title

About the Author

Eamonn Butler is Director of the Adam Smith Institute, one of the world’s leading policy think tanks. He holds degrees in economics and psychology, a PhD in philosophy, and an honorary DLitt. In the 1970s he worked in Washington for the US House of Representatives, and taught philosophy at Hillsdale College, Michigan, before returning to the UK to help found the Adam Smith Institute. A winner of the Freedom Medal of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge and the UK National Free Enterprise Award, Eamonn is former Secretary of the Mont Pelerin Society. Eamonn is the author of many books, including introductions on the pioneering economists and thinkers Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, F. A. Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Ayn Rand. He has also published primers on Classical Liberalism, Public Choice, Entrepreneurship, Magna Carta, and the Austrian School of Economics, as well as The Condensed Wealth of Nations, The Best Book on the Market, and School of Thought: 101 Great Liberal Thinkers. His Foundations of a Free Society won the 2014 Fisher Prize. He is co-author of Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls, and of a series of books on IQ. He is a frequent contributor to print, broadcast and online media.

Edition details

• Publisher: Institute of Economic Affairs
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 025536797X
• ISBN 13: 9780255367974
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144