The threats to democracy

This chapter concentrates on the current philosophical, economic, ideological and political developments that undermine democratic societies. As such we deal with contemporary arguments about the threats to representative democracy posed by the growing reach of global corporations, the rise of national populist political movements, the growth of the secret or dark state, the pervasive reach of big data, and the resurgence of ideologies eulogising elitist - i.e. anti-democratic- regimes. In the latter context, the argument is pursued by focusing on the recent case put for epistocracy by the political philosopher Jason Brennan in his 2016 book, Against Democracy. This chapter stresses the path-dependent drive of capitalism towards economic inequality and socio-political-polarisation as the dominant internal threat to democracy. The chapter concludes by addressing the three major current external (external to the logic of capitalism, that is) existential threats to democracy and humanity in general: namely, climate change, nuclear weapons and viral pandemics.