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The Confidence Trap: A History of Democracy in Crisis from World War I to the Present
By Runciman, David
- ISBN
- 9780691148687
- Publisher
- Princeton Univ.
REVIEWS
Library Journal
Starred Review on November 1, 2013 | Social Sciences
Democracy is like a game of chicken, writes Runciman (political theory, Cambridge Univ.; Political Hypocrisy: The Mask of Power, from Hobbes to Orwell and Beyond): "When things get really bad, we will adapt. Until they get really bad, we need not adapt, because democracies are ultimately adaptable." This is the "confidence trap" of his book's title: the propensity of democracies to put off action, as authoritaria...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
