Democracy is in bad health. Against Elections offers a new diagnosis - and an ancient remedy.

Fear-mongering populists, distrust in the establishment, personality contests instead of reasoned debate: these are the results of the latest elections.

In fact, as this ingenious book shows, the original purpose of elections was to exclude the people from power by appointing an elite to govern over them.

Yet for most of its 3000-year history, democracy did not involve elections at all: members of the public were appointed to positions in government through a combination of volunteering and lottery.

Based on studies and trials from around the globe, this hugely influential manifesto presents the practical case for a true democracy - one that actually works.

Urgent, heretical and completely convincing, Against Elections leaves only one question to be answered: what are we waiting for?

An ingenious, heretical and timely argument to save democracy from elections

About the Author
David Van Reybrouck has been described as 'one of the leading intellectuals in Europe' (Der Tagesspiegel) and 'one of the most brilliant European intellectuals of the moment' (Le Soir). Against Elections has been translated into more than twenty languages and has led to the trial use of participatory democracy in numerous countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. David Van Reybrouck is also the author of Congo: The Epic History of a People, which won twenty prizes, sold over half a million copies and has been translated into a dozen languages. His plays Mission and Para have been performed across Europe, and his novel Zinc won the European Book Prize 2017. His most recent book, Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World, was a major bestseller in The Netherlands and is being published in various other languages. He is Belgian, writes in Dutch and is based in Brussels.

Reviews
Riveting * Irish Examiner *
Very persuasive ... There are few new big ideas in politics and few answers to the serious challenge faced by democratic politics ... invigorating and advance[s] a promising practical idea ... fresh, challenging and uncomplicated -- Daniel Finkelstein * The Times *
This fine iconoclastic work could not be more timely ... demonstrate[s] that far from safeguarding our right to self-determination, elections are actually impeding our democracy -- Karen Armstrong
Mounts a convincing case that we have wrongly conflated democracy with elections * Observer *
Van Reybrouck wants to revive a system in which government is not just for the people, but really by the people ... a persuasive description of a system designed to be soundly based in popular assent ... A President Trump might focus attention on his views * Financial Times *
Choosing our rulers by popular vote has failed to deliver true democratic government: that seems to be the verdict of history unfolding before our eyes ... [this] may well be an idea whose time has come -- J. M. Coetzee
A sovereign remedy for the raging crypto-oligarchy of our turbulent times -- Professor Paul Cartledge, author of Democracy: A Life



Book Information
ISBN 9781847924223
Author David Van Reybrouck
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint The Bodley Head Ltd
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 209g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 135mm * 15mm