Against Elections: New Book Offers Ideas to Strengthen Democracy

FEATURING DAVID VAN REYBROUCK – A book entitled “Against Elections” might lead you to believe it is an anti-democratic treatise. But in fact David Van Reybrouck’s influential book, which has just been translated from Dutch into English and published in the US, makes the case that our democracies are simply not democratic enough and that elections are a big part of the problem.

The November 2016 election in the US is certainly a perfect example of how a choice of a demagogue for President made by a minority of Americans indicates a deeply flawed democracy. Elections are simply a tool of democracy and elites have successfully hacked the system so that the tool works in their favor. It is no wonder there is deep disapproval of politicians in countries around the world that are supposed to be democratic.

Watch a short video primer of David Van Reybrouck’s idea for how to strengthen democracy:

David Van Reybrouck, a leading European intellectual, advocate of participatory democracy, co-founder of the G1000 Citizen’s Summit. He is also an award winning author whose most recent book Congo: The Epic History of a People won half a million copies, won 19 prizes, and has been translated into a dozen languages. Against Elections is his newest book and has an introduction by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

** This segment was originally broadcast on April 2, 2018.