John Keane

In an age of fake news and half-truths, the radical potential of democracy is more important than ever, as this nimble, illuminating history by a celebrated political theorist reveals. From its beginnings in Syria-Mesopotamia—and not Athens—to its role in fomenting revolutionary fervour in France and America, democracy has subverted fixed ways of deciding who should enjoy power and privilege, and...

An Australian Book Review Best Book of the Year A disturbing in-depth exposé of the antidemocratic practices of despotic governments now sweeping the world. One day they'll be like us. That was once the West's complacent and self-regarding assumption about countries emerging from poverty, imperial rule, or communism. But many have hardened into something very different from liberal democracy: what...

Democracy and despotism live closer together than you'd expect. Acclaimed political thinker John Keane reveals why that should alarm us all. We live in troubled times, marked by a sinister trend gaining the upper hand everywhere: the triumph of despotism not only in countries like Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also in states run by popularly elected demagogues such...

The era when theorists could urge democrats to whistle their way through the world with an air of philosophical superficiality and light-mindedness (Richard Rorty) is over. In a period of mounting global anxiety and widespread political unrest about democracy's future, the moment has come for more thinking about thinking, and for considering the surprising connections between thinking and democracy. Thinking...