As democracies face growing discontent from within, more people than ever feel compelled to defend the ideals of democratic government. To make sense of the paradox, Princeton political theorist Jan-Werner Müller invokes Machiavelli’s injunction to “return to first principles.” Democracy is not reducible to the rule of law or parliamentary procedure, but needs ethical foundations—individual liberty and collective equality bound together by reciprocal respect.
Democracy’s genius and its fragility stem from blending these ideals and balancing them with the fundamental uncertainty that elections bring. Whereas authoritarian rulers seek stability based on manipulating people, vibrant democracy rests on the recognition that human agency offers more than one route to flourishing. None of these points are new, but the merit of Müller’s book is to restate them with an admirable clarity.
Besides the threat from autocracy and tech totalitarianism, Müller is also right to highlight the “double secession” that is eroding democracy from within: wealthy elites are insulating themselves from ordinary people, who in turn often don’t vote and end up disengaging from politics altogether. Increasing numbers of non-voting citizens are unrepresented in public political debate.
Müller’s argument for rebuilding the “critical infrastructure” of democracy that is anchored in political parties, the media and a mobilised citizenry is compelling. But his call to restore the social contract between individuals and the state is much less convincing. To address climate change, ageing populations and hostile foreign powers, democracy requires a new civic covenant—a partnership between generations, regions and groups, as well as between us and nature.
Covenantal relationships are different to and broader than a social contract, involving not just rights and freedoms but also social virtues such as courage, loyalty, fortitude and solidarity. Whereas Müller wants more rulebreakers such as the spy-turned-surveillance-whistleblower Edward Snowden, democracy needs virtuous leadership if it is to avoid sliding into demagogy, oligarchy and even tyranny.
