Ideology of Democratism (eBook)

A unique reinterpretation of democracy that shows how history's most vocal champions of democracy from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Jefferson to John Rawls have contributed to a pervasive, anti-democratic ideology, effectively redefining democracy to mean "e;rule by the elites."e; The rise of global populism reveals a tension in Western thinking about democracy. Warnings about the "e;populist threat"e; to democracy and "e;authoritarian"e; populism are now commonplace. However, as Emily B. Finley argues in The Ideology of Democratism, dismissing "e;populism"e; as anti-democratic is highly problematic. In effect, such arguments essentially reject the actual popular will in favor of a purely theoretical and abstract "e;will of the people."e; She contends that the West has conceptualized democracy-not just its populist doppelg?nger-as an ideal that has all of the features of a thoroughgoing political ideology which she labels "e;democratism."e; As she shows, this understanding of democracy, which constitutes an entire view of life and politics, has been and remains a powerful influence in America and leading Western European nations and their colonial satellites. Through a careful analysis of several of history's most vocal champions of democracy, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, John Rawls, and American neoconservatives and liberal internationalists, Finley identifies an interpretation of democracy that effectively transforms the meaning of "e;rule by the people"e; into nearly its opposite. Making use of democratic language and claiming to speak for the people, many politicians, philosophers, academics, and others advocate a more "e;complete"e; and "e;genuine"e; form of democracy that in practice has little regard for the actual popular will. A heterodox argument that challenges the prevailing consensus of what democracy is and what it is supposed be, The Ideology of Democratism offers a timely and comprehensive assessment of the features and thrust of this powerful new view of democracy that has enchanted the West.