A World of Insecurity: Democratic Disenchantment in Rich and Poor Countries

The root of democratic decline is insecurity, not inequality. Antidemocrats across the globe feel differently about inequality, but all fear losing what they have—financially or culturally. Pranab Bardhan urges context-sensitive policy solutions and the promotion of civic patriotism and moderate community values over aggrandizing ethnonationalism.

Table of Contents:
Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction 1. Insecurity, Inequality, and Democracy 2. Taking Back Control: Back to the Community? 3. The Wildfire of Resurgent Nationalism 4. The Temptation of Authoritarianism 5. The Slippery Slope of Majoritarianism 6. Social Democracy Redux 7. Social Democracy and Capitalism: A Restructuring of Their Fraught Link 8. In Search of Economic Security: Universal Basic Income 9. In Search of Security: Other Policies References Acknowledgments Index

Review :
Situating American Trumpism within a global story of the rise of antidemocratic politics in other big, diverse countries like Brazil and India, ...[Bardhan] presents a sober contemplation of demagogues like Jair Bolsonaro and Narendra Modi, who weaken democracy with the support of disaffected electoral majorities. -- Alexander Burns New York Review of Books Ambitious...[This book] makes an important contribution to the burgeoning literature on the erosion of democracy worldwide. -- Martin Wolf Financial Times Bardhan argues that the ills plaguing the world are best understood not in terms of inequality but in terms of insecurity--simmering economic and social anxiety about job loss, declining incomes, poverty, and cultural change. -- Daron Acemoglu Foreign Affairs Not poverty, not inequality, but insecurity is at the root of the worldwide upsurge in populism and disenchantment with democracy. This is the main message of A World of Insecurity...[Bardhan's] impressively comprehensive, richly informed and balanced book. -- Philippe Van Parijs Brussels Times Bardhan's contribution to a growing body of literature on the phenomenon of disenchantment is particularly welcome as it not only contains piercing commentaries and fresh insights but also offers some workable solutions to this conundrum...The book hands us a great opportunity to bridge the widening gap between intellectual rigour and popular opinion. -- Iman Kumar Mitra Telegraph India Wide-ranging...Policy makers, labor activists, and economists will find much to chew on. -- Publishers Weekly [Bardhan] proposes that liberalism's ethical principles--its normative claims--are still as palpable today in our present historical circumstances, in the political ruins we call neoliberalism and populism, as they were at their origin in the seventeenth century. -- James Livingston Project Syndicate A work of expansive ambition and breadth. In particular, the sweeping catalogue of proposals to relaunch social democracy...will offer food for thought to progressive thinkers around the world. -- Alessandra Pelloni Journal of Economics An accessible book, challenging but with impressive and topical examples. -- Christine Shields Society of Professional Economists In his bold new book [Bardhan] explains the rise of authoritarianism, in many cases driven, as he says, by populist demagogues--leaders who claim to embody the popular will and who, though they may emerge in formal democracies, then trample upon the rules and institutions of representative government. -- John Harriss Today's Totalitarianism A World of Insecurity well points out the critical issues of a world where democracy loses the postulate of the people's participation in collective decision-making. -- Albertina Nani History of Economic Thought and Policy In this important book, Pranab Bardhan explores how and why the insecurities of our age have metastasized into our democratic institutions. These cancers on democracy block the cooperation necessary for solution of all other major problems. Thus, they are arguably the most consequential developments of our times. -- George Akerlof, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economics Pranab Bardhan is one of the wisest social scientists writing today, and the hallmarks of his writing are parsimony, clarity, and the depth of ideas. Indeed, the ratio of ideas to pages is among the highest in our field. A World of Insecurity is a panoramic book weaving together an analysis of the current economic and political crisis, acutely discussed by a master political economist. -- John Roemer, Yale University A World of Insecurity is an outstanding work. Bardhan tackles hard questions without illusions but also without becoming disillusioned. -- Samuel Bowles, Santa Fe Institute, author of The Moral Economy: Why Good Incentives Are No Substitute for Good Citizens