Democracy incorporated Managed democracy and the specter of inverted totalitarianism

Wolin (emeritus, Princeton Univ.) argues that democratic practice and theory in the US are failing. Wolin's evidence includes the expansion of corporate power and the accelerating merger of corporate and state power; executive violation of constitutional norms; growing executive dominance; empire and its corrosion of democracy; manipulation of elections and the public; lying; managed democracy; concentration of media ownership; appeal to religious, economic, and political fundamentalism in place of common interest; and marketization of values and beliefs. This creates "inverted totalitarianism" that exploits the public and justifies accelerating inequality, but is compatible with some outward forms of democracy. Such violation of democracy is not planned or desired but results from "actions or practices undertaken in ignorance of their lasting consequences." Despite deep roots, this process has accelerated under the current Bush administration, though Wolin has scant hope that Democrats, as opposed to democrats, can significantly improve the situation. Chapter 9 is a rare, chilling analysis of intellectual critics of democracy. If democracy means more than occasional elections and protection of those rights that are compatible with economic and political elites' interests, Wolin's analysis of our democratic predicament is shocking, solid, and fundamentally correct. Hopefully his next book will expand his suggestions for "redemocratization." Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. C. P. Waligorski emeritus, University of Arkansas