{"product_id":"9781761170881-demagogues-and-despots-democracies-on-the-brink","title":"Demagogues and Despots: Democracies on the brink","description":"\u003cp\u003eDemocracy and despotism live closer together than you'd expect. Acclaimed political thinker John Keane reveals why that should alarm us all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe live in troubled times, marked by a sinister trend gaining the upper hand everywhere: the triumph of despotism not only in countries like Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also in states run by popularly elected demagogues Orbn and Erdoan, Netanyahu and Trump.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJohn Keane shows why this new despotism defies the laws of political gravity. Instead of relying on fear or raw force, it fosters a strange, pseudo-democratic type of government, led by rulers skilled in winning public loyalty through government handouts, election-rigging, legal trickery, weaponised lying and talk of enemies. And, alarmingly, these leaders hunt in packs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat's so good about democracy? Keane explains that it's much more than popular self-government based on free and fair elections. Democracy is a collective insistence that unaccountable power is always dangerous and that it's the best way to stop demagogues and despots from ruining life on our planet.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NewSouth","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44818165399688,"sku":"9781761170881","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/littlelostbookshop.com.au\/products\/9781761170881-demagogues-and-despots-democracies-on-the-brink","provider":"The Little Lost Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}