Book Review: Gerard Rosich and Peter Wagner (eds), The Trouble with Democracy: Political Modernity in the 21st Century
| Published date | 01 November 2017 |
| Date | 01 November 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929917720420 |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsPolitical Theory |
Book Reviews 609
upon with templates of citizenship from civic
friendship (pp. 15 and 115).
The final part takes the arguments of the
previous sections and advances Digeser’s the-
sis to the international sphere. Through this,
she probes the ways in which friendship can
act as vanguard for international interaction
and cooperation (p. 218). The author reapplies
her earlier ‘practice-based’ approach to differ-
entiate the levels of such international bonds
(p. 19). Following Rawls, she argues that
when engaging in civil and political liberties,
states are capable of rising above relation-
ships of mere utility (pp. 223, 234 and 257).
Derridian notions (derived from Aristotle) of
the inherent political nature of friendship are
applied to the international sphere. Such rela-
tionships would generate political dialogue
and discourse (pp. 19 and 279).
Friendship Reconsidered is a complex,
elegant and innovative re-examination which
(like its deconstructionist forbear) subtly
interweaves cultural with political theory to
create a tapestry sufficiently rich to do jus-
tice to the relationship itself. This work
should be considered alongside the works of
other scholars (e.g. Lynch, 2005; Heyking
and Avramenko, 2008; Schwarzenbach,
2009; Nehmas, 2016) in order to provide a
fuller picture of friendship. Nonetheless,
Digeser’s book is an engaging, innovative
and original study of a relationship central to
humanity, innovatively applied to interna-
tional affairs.
Jamie Macpherson
(University of Stirling)
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929917718158
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The Trouble with Democracy: Political
Modernity in the 21st Century by Gerard
Rosich and Peter Wagner (eds). Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 2016. 286pp., £75.00
(h/b), ISBN 9781474407984
The Trouble with Democracy: Political
Modernity in the 21st Century focuses on the
reality and prevailing tension of democracy in
the modern era. The editors, Gerard Rosich and
Peter Wagner, have selected articles that deal
with conceptual and practical issues plaguing
democracy today.
Composed of 10 articles, there are three
underlying ‘troubles’ that the editors aim to cover
with their selections. As summarised in their epi-
logue, these troubles are threefold: (1) democracy
must deal with the effects of a ‘growing global
interdependence’, (2) democratic peoples must
reinforce their ‘collective’ identity and autonomy
beyond liberal individualism and (3) new demo-
cratic institutions are required to close any gap
between democratic reality and ideals (p. 275).
The volume covers an array of topics and
countries, highlighting the pervasive scope of
issues concerning democratic politics. Some
of the more important topics covered concern
popular sovereignty, democratic politics in the
age of globalisation, women’s emancipation,
the tension between capitalism and democ-
racy, and new approaches to political engage-
ment. The best feature of this volume is its
broad range of analysis from different coun-
tries and regions including South Africa,
Brazil, Argentina, Europe and Latin America.
The general content will most likely intrigue
scholars of democratic theory and compara-
tive politics. However, the technical language
used throughout reduces the accessibility of
this volume to the average reader.
The editors have supplied pertinent articles
that make readers aware of the different experi-
ences (and troubles) of democracy, ultimately
reinforcing the view that democracy is an activity
of collective autonomy, and a transformation of
either collective identity or political institution(s).
Despite its technical and academic language,
the volume provides an interesting scope of con-
ceptual and empirical work. Notably, the geo-
graphic case studies provide accessible real-world
examples of contemporary political practice (for
instance, in Roodepoort, South Africa, or in
Argentina). Despite this breadth, the volume
could have benefited from including work focus-
ing more closely on identity politics in demo-
cratic discourse. Moreover, case studies drawn
from the Orient would have been a welcome
inclusion as well.
Overall, the selections in this edited volume
are of topical importance to democratic theory.
The editors take care to include examples of
the successes and failures of democratic prac-
tice in a vast array of cases. If readers come
away with one thing from this volume, it
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