Summary
Manuel Castells: Sunovrat: the crisis of liberal democracy
Most citizens in today's world do not trust their political representatives, the main political parties, political institutions or governments of their countries. This widespread crisis of legitimacy is at the root of a series of dramatic changes that have recently taken place in the global political environment.
In his book, Manuel Castells analyzes each of these processes and examines some of the potential causes of people's dissatisfaction with the institutions of liberal democracy. His considerations include the effects of globalization, the influence of media politics and the Internet, the increasing corruption of politicians, the isolation of the professional political class from civil society, and the criticism of the existing order coming from new social movements. Castells pays special attention to the impact of global terrorism and war on xenophobia and racism, which fuel the rise of extremism in a growing percentage of the population. The fact that many of these trends are present in very different contexts indicates that we are witnessing a deep crisis of democracy, which has been the basis of stability and civility for the last half century.
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