The spectre of democratic despotism has haunted the West at least since the time of Socrates. How is it that the rule of the people so often turns against the people, and they eagerly accept the tutelage of their self-important democratic masters? Ours is the time when the question is particularly portent. And Emily Finley's book gives us the answers. Superbly researched, clearly argued and gracefully narrated, the book leads us from Rousseau as the founding father of democratism to Rawls, Habermas and the neoconservatives. Dr. Finley's dissection of the ideology of democratism is not only an academic work of high quality but also an intriguing if somewhat disturbing story of how the modern mind has been busy inventing new forms of political control.
Emily B. Finley is a 2021-2022 John and Daria Barry Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University. She earned her PhD in Politics from The Catholic University of America and held a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford as well. Her research interests include the history of ideas, politics and the imagination, political ideology, and epistemology.