书籍介绍
"A work of tremendous originality and insight."—Washington Post.
A national bestseller, including extended stays on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post lists, this major work by Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria has been touted by the New York Times as "brave and ambitious...updated Tocqueville" and the Chicago Tribune as "essential reading for anyone worried about the promotion and preservation of liberty."
Democracy has reshaped politics, economics, and culture around the world. This provocative book asks, can you have too much of a good thing?
Today we judge the value of every idea, institution, and individual by one test: is it popular? Or, more practically, do the majority of those polled like it? This transformation has affected not just politics but also business, law, culture, and even religion. Every institution and profession in society must democratize or die. Democracy has gone from being a form of government to a way of life.
Like any broad transformation, however, the trends that democracy unleashes are not uniformly benign. Democracy has its dark sides, yet to question it has been to provoke instant criticism that you are "out of sync" with the times. No more. "Intensely provocative and valuable," according to Business Week, and with an easy command of history, philosophy, and current affairs, The Future of Freedom calls for a restoration of the balance between liberty and democracy and shows how liberal democracy has to be made effective and relevant for our time. Woodrow Wilson said the challenge of the twentieth century was to make the world safe for democracy. This penetrating book challenges us to make democracy safe for the world.
精彩摘录
- "搭乘泰坦尼克号头等舱的旅客是当时世界最富有的人，等于当年的福布斯世界富豪排行榜上的人物。阿斯特（john jacob astor）号称是当时美国最有钱的人。他奋力抢路到救生艇旁，让他的妻子有了座位，然后拒绝给自己座位，退后，挥手向太太告别。古根海姆（benjamin guggenheim）同样拒绝接受救生艇座位，把它让给一位妇女，请这名妇女转告他在家的妻子：“告诉我太太，我按正直规则游戏到终点。没有妇女会因为古根海姆是懦夫而被留在船上。”换言之，当世最有权势的人遵守不成文的荣誉行为规范--即使遵守意味着必定的死亡。 在华盛顿靠近东波托马克河公园树立着一个不易忘怀的纪念像，一个手臂伸出如耶稣的雕"
- "In Germany, by contrast, industrialization was jump-started and prodded by government subsidies, regulations, and tariffs. As a result its bourgeoisie was weak, divided, and subservient to the state and its ruling feudal elite. Marx contemptuously described Germany’s business class as “a bourgeoisie"
- "France placed the state above society, democracy above constitutionalism, and equality above liberty."
- "In the developing world, the state has often had to jump-start capitalism. Again this mirrors the European example, where modern capitalism began with the state taking large tracts of agricultural land from the hands of feudal lords and using it in ways that were more market-friendly. This move brok"
- "Land reform was one of the keys to economic and political success in East Asia (particularly in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea) and, where it was applied, in Latin America (most clearly in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Chile). Western conservatives often opposed land reform during the Cold War because it "
- "Actually this very fact—that Muslims never had a pope to rebel against—is the very source of the quandary. In the Islamic world, since temporal authority was always dominant over spiritual authority, the issue of separating the two never came up. This meant that rulers and those who opposed them cou"
- "Democracies were governed directly, through popular assemblies, like the city states of ancient Greece—which Madison and many other American founders regarded as turbulent, illiberal, and unstable. For Madison, America was better termed a republic, in which the citizenry delegates the task of govern"
- "The bullet that killed the American political party was the primary election. Parties exist to compete in general elections. So choosing a candidate is the most important decision a party makes. Once that process was taken out of the hands of the party organization and given over to the voter, the p"
用户评论
西方政府模式最好的代表，不是人民普选投票，而是公正的法官。
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