The Demon in Democracy cover art

The Demon in Democracy

Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

$14.95/mo. after 30-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Try for $0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for $23.36

Buy Now for $23.36

About this listen

Ryszard Legutko lived and suffered under communism for decades - and he fought with the Polish anti-communist movement to abolish it. Having lived for two decades under a liberal democracy, however, he has discovered that these two political systems have a lot more in common than one might think. They both stem from the same historical roots in early modernity, and accept similar presuppositions about history, society, religion, politics, culture, and human nature.

In The Demon in Democracy, Legutko explores the shared objectives between these two political systems, and explains how liberal democracy has, over time, lurched towards the same goals as communism, albeit without Soviet-style brutality.

Both systems, says Legutko, reduce human nature to that of the common man, who is led to believe himself liberated from the obligations of the past. Both the communist man and the liberal democratic man refuse to admit that there exists anything of value outside the political systems to which they pledged their loyalty. And both systems refuse to undertake any critical examination of their ideological prejudices.

©2016 Ryszard Legutko (P)2017 Tantor Eastern Europe Ideologies & Doctrines Political Science Politics & Government Liberalism Socialism Capitalism Soviet Union Social justice
All stars
Most Relevant
It leans a bit towards what I would call a scholastic style. This required me to have to listen at a slower speed than usual and also concentrate more. Having said that their is lots of interesting points made and I don't regret putting in the extra effort.

worth a listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.