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Wolin's Democracy Incorporated struggles with one of the most persistent questions in social sciences - the challenge and perils of democratic systems as a ceaseless struggle between the political demos and selected few elites. The question is carried to a contemporary, but equally crucial phenomena - the transformation of the US political system harbouring ambitions of being the world's longest democratic champion and promoter of democracy abroad. The book, thus, raises a very provocative question - does democracy truly describe the US politics, or is it a cynical gesture used to camouflage a deeply manipulative politics? (242) Could we and/or should we think of an American version of totalitarianism? In that case, how can we notice it?
The volume follows on a new, but expanding body of literature dealing with the transformation and to some degree the degeneration of liberal democracies in the advanced Western countries, especially with regard to the alienation of the public and voters. A branch of this literature points at the drawbacks of unconstrained capitalism, which leaves the citizen in the mercy or better the cruelty of the market forces, and politics vulnerable to marketisation. Few studies have also searched onto the shallowness of the democratic ideals in the concrete case of the US politics, especially US foreign policy, in the light of controversial events such as Iraqi intervention. Yet, Wolin has written the most empirically updated, theoretically informed and generally persuasive analysis on the transformation of the US politics away from self-government, rule of law, egalitarianism and thoughtful public discussion (p. XVI). Democracy Incorporated mounts to a courageous and powerful critique of the path towards which American politics might be leaning.
The book assembles a persuasive account of events and patterns in contemporary American politics that epitomise change. Accordingly, the attacks of 9/11 on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon were a revelatory moment in the history of American political life. The targets symbolised financial and military power, rather than any of the symbols of constitutional democracy. At the same time, terrorism seemingly turned into the American governments' favourite instrument to increase power domestically and abroad. Most efforts to reshape the political system after 9/11 consisted of enlarging the powers of the executive and reducing the legal protection of citizens,...