Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government

Journalist Kurlantzick (Charm Offensive) shows how middle-class citizens quickly become disillusioned with democracy as a form of government when they conflate representative government with rising standards of living and when elections immediately improve economic conditions. Building from disillusionment in the Philippines%E2%80%94where street protests were used for regime change%E2%80%94he warns that conceptualizing democracy as an American import is a way totalitarian leaders turn citizens against elections, and calls for societies to reclaim democracy as local heritage as a counter. New combinations of economic and political systems are also addressed, such as the Chinese model of capitalism combined with undemocratic rule. Probing for reasons why life might be better under a dictator, he finds "authoritarian nostalgia" arises from needs hierarchies, as when the provision of food trumps a citizen's wish for free speech because there is no guarantee that democracy will deliver food. Speech can also suppress democracy, especially in authoritarian nations; rhetorical wars see dissenters labeled as dangers to stability as acquiescence to Western goals in the War on Terror. The U.S., according to the author, has erroneously used shallow measures of democracy, like elections, to consider countries transformed, when in reality little has changed. (Mar.)