The Great Retreat

Didi Kuo's engaging study raises urgent questions about tensions between capitalism and democracy and why today's overly professionalized and distant political parties have become less adept at mediating this relationship. This is must-reading for scholars, students, and interested citizens who see political parties in today's world as more a hinderance than a help in representing the people's interests.

Auteur
Didi Kuo is a Center Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. She is the author of Clientelism, Capitalism, and Democracy: The Rise of Programmatic Politics in the United States and Britain, and has written widely about democratization, capitalism, and political parties.

Texte du rabat

In The Great Retreat, Didi Kuo connects the erosion of political parties in advanced democracies to the recent crises of democratic capitalism, focusing on how today's weak parties have ceded governance to the private sector. For democracy to adapt to a new era of global capitalism, Kuo makes the case that we need strong intermediaries like mass parties, socially embedded institutions with deep connections to communities and citizens. As trust in political parties has plummeted, with party membership reaching historic lows, The Great Retreat provides a powerful defense of political parties--for without parties, democratic representation is impossible.

Résumé
As the crisis of democratic capitalism sweeps the globe, The Great Retreat makes the controversial argument that what democracies require most are stronger political parties that serve as intermediaries between citizens and governments. Once a centralizing force of the democratic process, political parties have eroded over the past fifty years. Parties now rank among the most unpopular institutions in society--less trusted than business, the police, and the media. Identification with parties has plummeted, and even those who are loyal to a party report feeling that parties care more about special interests than about regular citizens. What does a "good" political party look like? Why do we urgently need them? And how do we get them? The Great Retreat explores the development of political parties as democracy expanded across the West in the nineteenth century. It focuses in particular on mass parties, and the ways they served as intermediaries that fostered ties between citizens and governments. While parties have become professionalized and nationalized, they have lost the robust organizational density that made them effective representatives. After the Cold War, a neoliberal economic consensus, changes to campaign finance, and shifting party priorities weakened the party systems of Western democracies. As Didi Kuo argues, this erosion of political parties has contributed to the recent crisis of democratic capitalism, as weak parties have ceded governance to the private sector. For democracy to adapt to a new era of global capitalism, Kuo makes the case that we need strong intermediaries like mass parties--socially embedded institutions with deep connections to communities and citizens. Parties are essential to long-term democratic stability and economic growth, while the breakdown of party systems, on the other hand, has historically led to democratic collapse. As trust in political parties has plummeted, The Great Retreat provides a powerful defense of political parties--for without parties, democratic representation is impossible.

Contenu

• Chapter 1: Parties and the Crisis of Democracy and Capitalism

• Chapter 2: How Did Parties Begin?

• Chapter 3: How Did Parties Abandon Us?

• Chapter 4: How Did Parties Abandon Politics?

• Chapter 5: How Did Parties Get Rich?

• Chapter 6: How Did Parties Abandon the Government?

• Conclusion: Parties and the Future of Democracy