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A review by ballisticbaylor
Democracy: A Very Short Introduction by Bernard Crick
3.0
“The populist mode of democracy is a politics of arousal more than of reason, but also a politics of diversion from serious concerns that need settling in either a liberal democratic or civic republican manner.”
Hard to tell if this one was inaccessible or just unclear. Most of the VSIs state a definition up front for what something is, but instead, Bernard muses about the difficulty of pinning democracy down like that. "Demokratia, an Athenian minor deity - she is everybody's mistress and yet somehow retains her magic, even when a lover sees that her favors are being, in his light, elicitly shared by many another." I can respect this (heck, its why I came to the book in the first place!) but I would've appreciated a greater attempt.
After this, he races through democracy's roots in Ancient Greece. I felt frustrated by the pace, but I guess I can forgive it provided this is a "very short introduction" and he had a lot of ground to cover.
After Greece, he admittedly loses me for quite awhile and then spends an entire, long chapter on Alexis De Tocqueville. I'd never heard of him, but I suppose his work, Democracy in America was quite important. Important enough to take up an entire chapter in a short book? Not sure.
Bernard regained me when speaking about how certain systems relate to or within a democracy, like meritocracy, autocracy, and populism.
All in all, this VSI just wasn't the most helpful.
Hard to tell if this one was inaccessible or just unclear. Most of the VSIs state a definition up front for what something is, but instead, Bernard muses about the difficulty of pinning democracy down like that. "Demokratia, an Athenian minor deity - she is everybody's mistress and yet somehow retains her magic, even when a lover sees that her favors are being, in his light, elicitly shared by many another." I can respect this (heck, its why I came to the book in the first place!) but I would've appreciated a greater attempt.
After this, he races through democracy's roots in Ancient Greece. I felt frustrated by the pace, but I guess I can forgive it provided this is a "very short introduction" and he had a lot of ground to cover.
After Greece, he admittedly loses me for quite awhile and then spends an entire, long chapter on Alexis De Tocqueville. I'd never heard of him, but I suppose his work, Democracy in America was quite important. Important enough to take up an entire chapter in a short book? Not sure.
Bernard regained me when speaking about how certain systems relate to or within a democracy, like meritocracy, autocracy, and populism.
All in all, this VSI just wasn't the most helpful.