Willoughby Book Talk
THE DISPERSION OF POWER
A CRITICAL REALIST THEORY OF DEMOCRACY
by Samuel Bagg
Samuel Bagg in Conversation with James Boyce on Rethinking Democracy
Wednesday, October 8, 7 pm
This is a virtual discussion via Zoom.
Please call to register and to receive the Zoom link.
About the book
The Dispersion of Power is an urgent call to rethink centuries of conventional wisdom about what democracy is, why it matters, and how to make it better. Drawing from history, social science, psychology, and critical theory, it explains why elections do not and cannot realize the classic ideal of popular rule, and why prevailing strategies of democratic reform often make things worse. Instead, Bagg argues, we should see democracy as a way of protecting public power from capture-an alternative vision that is at once more realistic and more inspiring.
Despite their many shortcomings, real-world elections do prevent the most extreme forms of tyranny, and are therefore indispensable. In dealing with the vast inequalities that remain, however, we cannot rely on standard solutions such as electoral reform, direct democracy, deliberation, and participatory governance. Instead, Bagg shows, protecting and enriching democracy requires addressing underlying inequalities of power directly. In part, this entails substantive policies attacking the advantages of wealthy elites. Even more crucially, deepening democracy requires the organization of oppositional, countervailing power among ordinary people. Neither task is easy, but historical precedents exist in both cases-and if democracy is to survive contemporary crises, leaders and citizens alike must find ways to revive and reinvent these essential democratic practices for the 21st century.
Source: Oxford University Press
Reviews
"Democrats have failed to confront the realities of power, Samuel Bagg compellingly argues, frustrating their own hopes by thinking about democracy itself the wrong way. In doing so, they have helped reproduce hierarchy rather than prioritize mechanisms to counteract the risk of state capture. Few books are both important and original in their provocation, and even fewer explore an arresting insight with the generality and specifics to make it potent. The Dispersion of Power does all of this—and more." -- Samuel Moyn, Yale University
"[An] impressive and compelling contribution to realist democratic theory… The Dispersion of Power is an urgent and important reminder that protecting the democratic state against oligarchic capture should take priority in our efforts to save democracy in this time of peril." -- Simone Chambers, University of California Irvine
”One of the most important developments in recent political theory is the growth of realist accounts and defenses of democratic politics. In that exciting wave of scholarship, Samuel Bagg has written the most intellectually ambitious book. He treats the central problem of politics as the management and checking of power, not the expression of collective will….This challenging and major work sets a new standard for what it is like to put realist thought to constructive and far-reaching work." -- Jacob T. Levy, McGill University
“In an account both subtle and bracing, Bagg focuses on the dangers of concentrated power; and he shows a real path to organizing countervailing powers in order to resist capture of the state by private interests." -- Jan-Werner Müller, Princeton University
