Description
Book SynopsisThe political history of the twentieth century can be viewed as the history of democracy s struggle against its external enemies: fascism and communism. This struggle ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet regime.
Trade ReviewOne of the great intellectuals of our time.
Stanley Hoffmann, Harvard University
This is a voice to be listened to attentively, for our shared planetary home's and all its residents' sake.
Zygmunt Bauman, University of Leeds
Now, of all times, there is a need for cool heads, such as Todorov, who approaches the limits of free speech with admirable dexterity.
The New York Review of Books
A coherent, relevant work in which intelligence and sincere humanism do battle Ð a world away from the slippery moralizing of intellectual fence-sitters.
Le Nouvel Observateur
Todorov’s work is that of a sage, a man who has read the great texts, who has lived through two political regimes, and who dares to express an idea that may seem at odds with his fervent defence of freedom and democracy: freedom for its own sake, freedom that forgets its duties and responsibilities, is self-destructive. What he writes is never ordinary, but always tolerant and life affirming.
L’Echo
Table of Contents1 Democracy and its Discontents 1
The paradoxes of freedom 1
External and internal enemies 4
Democracy threatened by its own hubris 7
2 An Ancient Controversy 12
The main characters 12
Pelagius: will and perfection 14
Augustine: the unconscious and original sin 19
The outcome of the debate 22
3 Political Messianism 29
The revolutionary moment 29
The first wave: revolutionary and colonial wars 33
The second wave: the Communist project 37
The third wave: imposing democracy by bombs 45
The Iraq war 48
The internal damage: torture 50
The war in Afghanistan 53
The temptations of pride and power 57
The war in Libya: the decision 59
The war in Libya: the implementation 62
Idealists and realists 67
Politics in the face of morality and justice 71
4 The Tyranny of Individuals 78
Protecting individuals 78
Explaining human behaviour 81
Communism and neoliberalism 87
The fundamentalist temptation 91
Neoliberalism’s blind spots 97
Freedom and attachment 101
5 The Effects of Neoliberalism 104
Blame it on science? 104
The law retreats 109
Loss of meaning 113
Management techniques 116
The power of the media 125
Freedom of public speech 128
The limits of freedom 134
6 Populism and Xenophobia 139
The rise of populism 139
Populist discourse 142
National identity 147
Down with multiculturalism: the German case 150
Britain and France 153
The debate about headscarves 156
One debate can hide another 162
Relations with foreigners 166
Living together better 168
7 The Future of Democracy 173
Democracy, dream and reality 173
The enemy within us 179
Towards renewal? 184
Notes 189
Index 197
