Promotional Information

An ingenious, heretical and timely argument to save democracy from elections

About the Author

David Van Reybrouck is considered 'one of the leading intellectuals in Europe' (Der Tagesspiegel) and is a pioneering advocate of participatory democracy. He founded the G1000 Citizens' Summit, and his work has led to trials in participatory democracy throughout Belgium and The Netherlands. He is also one of the most highly regarded literary and political writers of his generation, whose most recent book, Congo- The Epic History of a People, won 19 prizes, sold 500,000 copies and has been translated into a dozen languages. It was described as a 'masterpiece' by the Independent and 'magnificent' by The New York Times.

Reviews

Riveting
*Irish Examiner*

Very persuasive … There are few new big ideas in politics and few answers to the serious challenge faced by democratic politics ... invigorating and advance[s] a promising practical idea … fresh, challenging and uncomplicated
*The Times*

This fine iconoclastic work could not be more timely ... demonstrate[s] that far from safeguarding our right to self-determination, elections are actually impeding our democracy
*Karen Armstrong*

Mounts a convincing case that we have wrongly conflated democracy with elections
*Observer*

Van Reybrouck wants to revive a system in which government is not just for the people, but really by the people … a persuasive description of a system designed to be soundly based in popular assent … A President Trump might focus attention on his views
*Financial Times*

Choosing our rulers by popular vote has failed to deliver true democratic government: that seems to be the verdict of history unfolding before our eyes ... [this] may well be an idea whose time has come
*J. M. Coetzee*

A sovereign remedy for the raging crypto-oligarchy of our turbulent times
*Professor Paul Cartledge, author of Democracy: A Life*