Why Politics Fails

Why Politics Fails

Why Politics Fails

Author/Seller
Ben Ansell
SKU:
9780241517635
$35.00
An award-winning Oxford professor explains why the revolving doors of power always leave us disappointed - and how to fix itWhy do the revolving doors of power always leave us disappointed? In Why Politics Fails, award-winning Oxford professor Ben Ansell shows that it's not the politicians that are the problem, it's that our collective goals result in five political 'traps'.Democracy- we all want a say in how we're governed, but it's impossible to have any true 'will of the people'. Equality- we want to be treated equally, but equal rights and equal outcomes undermine each other. Solidarity- we want a safety net when times are tough, but often we care about solidarity only when we need it ourselves. Security- we want protecting from harm, but not if it undermines our freedoms. Prosperity- we want to be richer tomorrow, but what makes us richer in the short run makes us poorer over the long haul. You've probably noticed a pattern here, which is that our self-interest undermines our ability to deliver on our collective goals. And these traps reinforce one another, so a polarized democracy can worsen inequality; a threadbare social safety net can worsen crime; runaway climate change will threaten global peace. Drawing on examples from Ancient Greece through Brexit and using his own counterintuitive and pathbreaking research - on why democracy thrives under high inequality, and how increased political and social equality can lead to greater class inequality - Ansell vividly illustrates how we can escape the political traps of our imperfect world. He shows that politics won't end, but that it doesn't have to fail.

Why Politics Fails

$35.00

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