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Homo Empathicus
On Scapegoats, Populists, and Saving Democracy
Authors:
Publisher:
2021
Summary
How societies can preserve democracy with a human-directed social contract
The recent rise of populist movements, especially in Western democracies, has prompted considerable thoughtful analysis. This remarkable book, digging deeper than most such efforts, cites the global financial crisis as the proximate cause but finds the ultimate source in the twin failures of modern capitalism and the democratic state to fulfill a meaningful social contract for the vast majority of people.
The book's focus on the financial crisis underscores how the promises of liberal democracy were repeatedly broken by financial and political elites, with a backlash emerging in the form of us-against-them populism. By undermining the hopes and livelihoods of millions of people, the crisis created its own narrative, with consequences capable of causing lasting damage to the liberal world order.
To restore the values of liberal democracy, the author proposes a truly human social contract supported by a narrative of empathy. The basis of such a contract is a new view of civil and social rights asan expression of human dignity, with economic factors understood as moral concerns, not just as a matter of who gets the most.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright Year
2021
ISBN-Print
978-0-8157-3839-8
ISBN-Online
978-0-8157-3840-4
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
148
Product Type
Monograph
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Table of Contents No access
Acknowledgments No access
Introduction No access Pages 1 - 9
The Financial Crisis Sounds the Death Knell of the Liberal World Order No access Pages 10 - 21
What Constitute(d) a Liberal Democracy No access Pages 22 - 30
The New Populism and the Crisis of Democracy No access Pages 31 - 58
"Us Against Them"—Economic Separatism No access Pages 59 - 73
The Tectonic Tremor No access Pages 74 - 88
The Common Good and the Ethic of Participation No access Pages 89 - 98
Strongmen Are Not Strong: What We Really Need Now No access Pages 99 - 119
