David Runciman

Scintillating ... thought-provoking ... one of the very best of the great crop of recent books on the subject. - Observer Democracy has died hundreds of times, all over the world. We think we know what that looks like: chaos descends and the military arrives to restore order, until the people can be trusted to look after their own affairs...

The Singularity is what Silicon Valley calls the idea that, eventually, we will be overrun by machines that are able to take decisions and act for themselves. What no one says is that it happened before. A few hundred years ago, humans started building the robots that now rule our world. They are called states and corporations: immensely powerful artificial...

What kind of hypocrite should voters choose as their next leader? The question seems utterly cynical. However, as David Runciman suggests, it is actually much more cynical to pretend that politics can ever be completely sincere. Political Hypocrisy is a timely and timeless book on the problems of sincerity and truth in politics, and how we can deal with them...

In this bold new follow-up to Confronting Leviathan, David Runciman unmasks modern politics and reveals the great men and women of ideas behind it. What can Samuel Butler's ideas teach us about the oddity of how we choose to organise our societies? How did Frederick Douglass not only expose the horrors of slavery, but champion a new approach to abolishing...

Bracingly intelligent ... a wonderful read - Guardian Incredibly timely ... presented [with] wonderful elegance and clarity - Irish Times Based on the History Of Ideas podcast series by Talking Politics host David Runciman, Confronting Leviathan explores some of the most important thinkers and prominent ideas lying behind modern politics - from Hobbes to Gandhi, from democracy to patriarchy, and...

* THE TIMES BEST IDEAS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2024 * 'A splendid book: economical, invigorating and surprising' - The Times 'He has that gift, both as a podcaster and as a writer, to illuminate abstruse and abstract ideas with human charm' - Observer In this bold new follow-up to Confronting Leviathan, David Runciman unmasks modern politics and reveals the...

Ideas in Profile: Small Introductions to Big Topics In the first title of an exciting new series, one of the world's leading political scientists asks the big questions about politics: what is it, why do we need it, and where, in these turbulent times, is it heading? From the gap between rich and poor to the impact of social media,...

'A splendid book: economical, invigorating and surprising' - The Times 'He has that gift, both as a podcaster and as a writer, to illuminate abstruse and abstract ideas with human charm' - Observer In this bold new follow-up to Confronting Leviathan, David Runciman unmasks modern politics and reveals the great men and women of ideas behind it. What can Samuel...