Social Democracy

Em defesa de uma sociedade aberta é uma seleção de seis conferências e textos produzidos por George Soros no período de 2014 a 2019. Inclui dois discursos do autor no Fórum Econômico Mundial em Davos, 2018 e 2019, sobre os perigos sem precedentes enfrentados pelas sociedades abertas atualmente.

Lottocracy argues that the problem is with the heart of modern democracy: the election. Elections are failing as accountability mechanisms. Elections provide short-term incentives, leading elected politicians to downplay long-term catastrophic concerns. Elections create division where none need exist. The most powerful among us take advantage of this to control who is elected, what policies are enacted, and which problems are ignored. What should we do?

In Educational Pluralism and American Democracy, education policy expert Ashley Rogers Berner envisions a K-12 education system that serves both the individual and the common good. Calling for education reform that will enable US public schools to fulfill the longstanding promise of American education, Berner proposes a radical reimagining of both the structure and content of US public school systems. She urges policymakers to embrace educational pluralism, an internationally common model in which the government funds diverse types of schools that deliver more universal content.

Written during the 1920s, an era that reflects much of our modern times 100 years later, this book by culture critic and scholar Mencken dissects what democracy is. The book’s three parts are “Democratic Man,” “The Democratic State” that includes a chapter on popular will and a chapter on politicians, and “Democracy and Liberty” with a section on corruption under democracy, followed by a “Coda” that discusses the future of democracy.

Famed journalist, satirist, and cultural critic Henry Louis (H. L.) Mencken is known as the chief heretic of the American civic religion for a reason. From the corruption of politicians to the dangers of mob rule, Mencken explores the pitfalls of democracy with his trademark irreverence and insight. In our age of demagogues, Notes on Democracy is as relevant today as it was nearly a century ago.

Demokratie ist nie statisch, sondern dynamisch. Sie lebt durch die Menschen, die ununterbrochen an ihr arbeiten. Wer wüsste das besser als Michel Friedman. In einer Zeit, in der Demokratie und Menschenrechte von Extremisten und Autokraten täglich angegriffen werden und Demokratien in Teilen von illiberalen Demokraten als autoritären und totalitären Führungen übernommen wurden, ruft er dazu auf, nicht nur mutig zu diskutieren, sondern auch endlich zu handeln – zugunsten von Freiheit und Menschenrechten.

Una persona, un voto: la democrazia si basa su una promessa di uguaglianza che troppo spesso si infrange sul muro del denaro. Finanziamento delle campagne elettorali, donazioni ai partiti politici, controllo dei media: da decenni la vita democratica è prigioniera degli interessi privati.

How Free Speech Saved Democracy is a revealing reminder that First Amendment rights have often been curtailed in efforts to block progress, and that current measures to reduce hurtful language and to end hate speech could backfire on those who promote them.

Hannah White offers a perceptive critique of the shortcomings of the House of Commons, arguing that the reputation of the Commons is in a downward spiral—compounded by government attempts to side-line parliament during Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic. At a time of populist challenge to representative democracy, this book is an essential rallying cry for Members of Parliament to reform the House of Commons—equipping it to fulfil its important role as a cornerstone of our democracy—or see it fade into irrelevance.

Plädoyer für eine gehirngerechte Politik. Wutbürger, Populismus und Protest: Viele Menschen haben das Gefühl, dass "die da oben" sie nicht ernst nehmen. Doch welche Ursachen liegen diesem weit verbreiteten Empfinden zugrunde? Und was müssen wir konkret tun, um unsere Gesellschaft wieder auf Spur zu bringen? Diese Fragen beantwortet der bekannte Psychiater und Autor Hans-Otto Thomashoff, indem er die Erkenntnisse der Neurowissenschaften mit der politischen Praxis verknüpft.

How much equality does democracy need to survive? Political thinkers have wrestled with that question for millennia. Aldo Schiavone guides us through historical thickets, from the first democracy to the present day, seeking solutions to the enduring tension between democracy and inequality. Turning from antiquity to the modern world, Schiavone shows how the American and the French revolutions attempted to settle old debates, introducing a new way of thinking about equality.

Over the last two decades, a fringe plan to call a convention under the Constitution's amendment mechanism—the nation's first ever—has inched through statehouses. Delegates, like those in Philadelphia two centuries ago, would exercise nearly unlimited authority to draft changes to our fundamental law, potentially altering anything from voting and free speech rights to regulatory and foreign policy powers. Such a watershed moment would present great danger, and for some, great power. In this important book, Feingold and Prindiville examine the grave risks inherent in this effort.

The United States wasn't built as a democracy. The Senate doesn't represent people. Both sides hate gerrymandering and the courts refuse to fix it. Our right to be heard is defeated by voter suppression and an Electoral College system that concentrates power in a handful of states and too often reverses the popular vote. But within our flawed system, we have the tools to tackle our most stubborn election problems by flexing state and local power (no constitutional amendments or courts required).

This authoritative and passionate primer on the three branches of government reveals the changes - political, cultural, constitutional, technological, institutional - that render our government completely dysfunctional, and the urgent need to fix our democracy before it's too late. If you've been watching the news and worrying that our democracy no longer works, this book will help you understand why you're right. There is colossal concentration of power in the presidency.

The problems of the 21st century are of unprecedented scale. Climate change, financial instability, the housing crisis, the need for health care: all of these are political issues that could be managed with ease on a much smaller scale. But with an enormous global population, that kind of change is no longer an option.

From 1953 to 1969, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren brought about many of the proudest achievements of American constitutional law. The Warren Court declared racial segregation and laws forbidding interracial marriage to be unconstitutional; it expanded the right of citizens to criticize public officials; it held school prayer unconstitutional; and it ruled that people accused of a crime must be given a lawyer even if they can't afford one. Yet conservative critics have fiercely accused the justices of the Warren Court of abusing their authority....

Have lawmakers helped themselves while helping the country? After the nation's financial crisis led Congress to unprecedented economic intervention, The Washington Post began an investigation that pierced the secrecy of the deeply flawed financial disclosure system that governs the 535 men and women who draft the nation's laws. Members of Congress directed millions of dollars to infrastructure projects near their residences and businesses, in some cases paving roads in front of their houses.

Dan Smoot (October 5, 1913 to July 24, 2003), born in East Prairie, MO, was an FBI agent turned conservative political commentator. From 1956 to 1971, he published The Dan Smoot Report, which was a weekly newsletter and radio program. Smoot wrote four books, including The Invisible Government (1962), concerning early members of the Council on Foreign Relations. In the following recording, Smoot explains the importance of America as a Constitutional Republic.

Smedley D. Butler (1881–1940), the most decorated officer in U.S. military history, including two Medals of Honor, wrote a searing critique in War is a Racket. Drawing from his service in conflicts from the Spanish-American War to World War I, he exposed how wars enriched corporations, bankers, and industrialists while soldiers and civilians bore the devastating costs. With unflinching candor, Butler revealed the profiteering motives behind global conflicts, delivering a timeless call for peace.

Con un análisis crítico implacable, irónico y con verdades filosas, Jairo Calixto ofrece en este manual corrosivo tragicómicos retratos de personajes célebres de la actual oposición mexicana: Fox, Calderón y Zavala, Claudio X. González, Ricardo Anaya, el jefe Diego, así como de varios políticos de estos tiempos aciagos: Lozoya, Bartlett, Rosario Robles, Lorenzo Córdova y demás especies en peligro de irrupción.