How Democracy Ends: Thinking the Unthinkable

Democracy is feeling the strain everywhere. What might happen next? How bad could it get? The Cambridge Society for the Application of Research (CSAR) has invited Professor David Runciman (Department of Politics and International Studies) to speak on these questions.

Worst-case scenarios for democracy – especially since the election of President Trump – usually hark back to how democracy has failed in the past. Do we risk going back to the 1930s? No – if democracy fails in the twenty-first century it will be in ways that are new and surprising. The decline of violence, the ageing of our societies and the rise of digital technology all mean that we need to look beyond the experiences of the twentieth century if we are to understand how democracy might end.

David Runciman, Professor of Politics and Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge, engages critically with this topic. His recent books include Political Hypocrisy and The Confidence Trap: A History of Democracy in Crisis (both Princeton). His is next book is called How Democracy Ends (Profile). He writes regularly about politics for the London Review of Books and is the host of the popular weekly podcast Talking Politics.

 

For further details on this event, please see the associated camtalks page here.