The Case for Democracy

Against Elections

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

Whenever there are elections, the results are the same: fear-mongering, division and broken promises. Against Elections offers a new diagnosis &ndash; and an ancient remedy. 
 
'Excellent . . . Why does our system keep electing people whose incomes, assets, interests and psychology are hugely at variance with ours? Because that is what it is designed to do' George Monbiot, Guardian 
 
'Very persuasive . . . invigorating' Daniel Finkelstein, The Times 
 
As this ingenious book shows, the original purpose of elections was not democracy: it was to exclude the people from power by appointing an elite to govern over them. 
 
In fact, for most of its 3000-year history, democracy did not involve elections at all: members of the public were appointed to positions in government through a combination of volunteering and lottery. 
 
Based on studies and trials from around the globe, this hugely influential manifesto presents the practical case for a true democracy &ndash; one that actually works. 
 
Urgent, heretical and completely convincing, Against Elections leaves only one question to be answered: what are we waiting for? 
 
'Riveting' Irish Examiner 
'Persuasive' Financial Times 
'A convincing case' Observer

Excellent . . . Why does our system keep electing people whose incomes, assets, interests and psychology are hugely at variance with ours? Because that is what it is designed to do

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

Van Reybrouck wants to revive a system in which government is not just for the people, but really by the people &hellip; a persuasive description of a system designed to be soundly based in popular assent

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

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

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. Cogently and persuasively, David Van Reybrouck pleads for a return to selection by lot, and outlines a range of well thought out plans for how sortitive democracy might be implemented. With the popular media and political parties fiercely opposed to it, sortitive democracy will not find it easy to win acceptance. Nonetheless, it may well be an idea whose time has come

A sovereign remedy for the raging crypto-oligarchy of our turbulent times

Professor Paul Cartledge, author of Democracy: A Life

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

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

David Van Reybrouck (Author) 
David Van Reybrouck is the author of Congo: The Epic History of a People, which won twenty prizes, sold over half a million copies and has been translated into a dozen languages. His book Against Elections has been translated into more than twenty languages and has led to the trial use of participatory democracy in numerous countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. His plays Mission and Para have been performed across Europe, and his novel Zinc won the European Book Prize 2017. Revolusi was first published in the Netherlands, where it was a major bestseller. David Van Reybrouck has been described as 'one of the leading intellectuals in Europe' (Der Tagesspiegel) and 'one of the most brilliant European intellectuals of the moment' (Le Soir). He is Belgian, writes in Dutch and is based in Brussels.

David Van Reybrouck

David Colmer

David McKay

A magnificent fusion of oral history, sparkling analysis, and historical wisdom. Revolusi has it all: a masterpiece

Utterly compelling . . . unfolds over a vast geopolitical canvas and yet never falters . . . propelled by the stories of its astonishing cast

An astounding feat of both research and storytelling. History at its best

Masterly . . . This compelling narrative . . . is wrapped around an extraordinary core of individuals . . . convincingly argues that Indonesia in itself represents a global crossroads, one of the most important in modern history

Revolusi briskly ushers Indonesia onto the centre stage of modern history

A magisterial and gripping account of events of urgent importance to us now

With rare narrative brilliance, Revolusi gives us a history at once vast and intimate, a history in colour

History as it should be. Carried by a democracy of ordinary voices, meticulous research, an eye for decisive detail, vivid language and drama

A towering achievement . . . one of the most unlikely and astonishing sagas

Surely . . . the most consequential ‘invisible revolution’ of the last hundred years . . . compelling

The definitive account of a neglected epoch

An outstanding account of one nation's unsung fight for freedom . . . enthralling . . . magnificent

An excellent English translation, Revolusi is a masterful account of Indonesia’s 1945-49 war of independence against the Netherlands

One of the year’s best books… fascinating; the story of its [Indonesia’s] formation is delivered in a manner that genuinely seems unsurpassable

We learn something utterly fascinating on every single page about the history of the group of islands that constitute the modern nation-state of Indonesia

Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World

A story of staggering scope and drama, Revolusi is the masterful and definitive account of the epic revolution that sparked the decolonisation of the modern world. 
 
On a sunny Friday morning in August 1945, a handful of tired people raised a homemade cotton flag and on behalf of 68 million compatriots announced the birth of a new nation. With the fourth largest population in the world, inhabiting islands that span an eighth of the globe, Indonesia became the first colonised country to declare its independence after the Second World War. 
 
Four million civilians had died during the wartime occupation by the Japanese that ousted the Dutch colonial regime. Another 200,000 people would lose their lives in the astonishingly brutal conflict that ensued - as the Dutch used savage violence to reassert their control, and as Britain and America became embroiled in pacifying Indonesia's guerrilla war of resistance: the 'revolusi'. It was not until December 1949 that the newly created United Nations forced The Netherlands to cede all sovereignty to Indonesia, finally ending 350 years of colonial rule and setting a precedent that would reshape the world. 
 
Drawing on hundreds of interviews and eye-witness testimonies, David Van Reybrouck turns this vast and complex story into an utterly gripping narrative that is alive with human detail at every turn. A landmark publication, Revolusi shows Indonesia's struggle for independence to be one of the defining dramas of the twentieth century and establishes its author as one of the most gifted narrative historians at work in any language today.

David Van Reybrouck

Praise for Revolusi

A magnificent fusion of oral history, sparkling analysis, and historical wisdom. Revolusi has it all: a masterpiece

Utterly compelling . . . unfolds over a vast geopolitical canvas and yet never falters . . . propelled by the stories of its astonishing cast

An astounding feat of both research and storytelling. History at its best

A magnificent fusion of oral history, sparkling analysis, and historical wisdom. Revolusi has it all: a masterpiece

Utterly compelling . . . unfolds over a vast geopolitical canvas and yet never falters . . . propelled by the stories of its astonishing cast

An astounding feat of both research and storytelling. History at its best

A magnificent fusion of oral history, sparkling analysis, and historical wisdom. Revolusi has it all: a masterpiece

Utterly compelling . . . unfolds over a vast geopolitical canvas and yet never falters . . . propelled by the stories of its astonishing cast

An astounding feat of both research and storytelling. History at its best

Books by David Van Reybrouck

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