Democratic Nostalgia

The reviewed books nicely expose several factors behind democratic “degeneration,” but they do not question the assumption that democracy is a matter for nation-states only. This is problematic because states’ ability to perform their traditional functions has been progressively eroded. The internet revolution, in particular, has accelerated social communication, economic transactions, and the process of unbounding with profound implications for democratic performance. Rather than cultivating nostalgia for the “glorious years” of democracy, we must think hard how to make democracy triumph in the digital era.