Ideas worth spreading

3 ways to upgrade democracy for the 21st century

1,489,891 views |

Max Rashbrooke |

TEDxAuckland

• November 2019

Democracy needs an update -- one that respects and engages citizens by involving them in everyday political decisions, says writer and researcher Max Rashbrooke. He outlines three global success stories that could help move democratic systems forward and protect society against the new challenges this century is already bringing.

Democracy needs an update -- one that respects and engages citizens by involving them in everyday political decisions, says writer and researcher Max Rashbrooke. He outlines three global success stories that could help move democratic systems forward and protect society against the new challenges this century is already bringing.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxAuckland, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Check out Participedia.net for inspiring examples of citizen participation worldwide.

About the speaker

Max Rashbrooke

Writer and researcher

See speaker profile

Max Rashbrooke's work focuses on two of the most urgent tasks facing the world: how to renew our systems of democracy and reduce growing economic disparities to have the foundation for a flourishing and harmonious life.

John Keane | W. W. Norton & Company, 2009 | Book

The Life and Death of Democracy

A sweeping and stimulating account of where democracy came from, how it has evolved and what its prospects are in the twenty-first century. Having moved through participatory and representative democracy, Keane argues, we now live in a "monitory" democracy. Challenging and thought-provoking.

Hélène Landemore | Princeton University Press, 2017 | Book

Democratic Reason: Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule of the Many

Why do democracies work? Because, Landemore argues, they organize information better than other decision-making systems. The power of cognitive diversity, public discussion and other factors means they arrive at better decisions than groups of experts or individuals acting alone. It's technical stuff — but powerful.

Thomas Piketty | Harvard University Press, 2017 | Book

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

The first of two heavyweight tomes that tells the story of inequality and democracy across the centuries. Piketty explains the economic processes, in particular the power of inherited wealth, that drive inequality to great heights and the absent democratic action against them. (See below for its successor.)

Thomas Piketty | Harvard University Press, 2020 | Book

Capital and Ideology

The second of two heavyweight tomes that tells the story of inequality and democracy across the centuries. Piketty sets out the history of how such inequalities have been justified ideologically - and how those justifications have been overcome.

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxAuckland, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Check out Participedia.net for inspiring examples of citizen participation worldwide.