Full Description
How fragile are current democracies? Joseph Livni interrogates the concept of democratic resilience through the lens of the equilibrium and stability of complex systems.
Drawing on political science, law, sociology, and psychology, this book offers diagnoses and potential solutions for preserving democracy. Scholars of democracy, particularly those focused on democratic resilience, will find value in this book not because it answers familiar questions but because it offers unanticipated insights. It demonstrates that neither the advocacy of individual actors nor the expansion of governmental authority guarantees democratic resilience, highlighting the unintended consequences of government actions and the hidden interconnections within societal systems that can disrupt stability. Ultimately, Livni argues that democracies, especially in the United States, remain resilient. This work provides scholars of law, sociology, and political science with a new framework for distinguishing between stabilizing and destabilizing actions, institutions, and structural reforms, opening a window to a deeper understanding of democratic resilience.
Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Equilibrium and Stability Studies in Nature, Technology, and Society
Chapter 2: Physics of Equilibrium and Stability
Chapter 3: Stability of Simple Systems
Chapter 4: Socio-physical Analysis of Complex Government Systems
Chapter 5: Crime Control
Chapter 6: Weimar and Nazi Germany: Law and Science
Chapter 7: Democracies outside North America
Chapter 8: The USA
Chapter 9: Grand Project: The Electric Vehicle
Conclusion
Appendix A: Global Warming: Predicting Surface Temperature Increment
Appendix B: Global Warming: Predicting Time to Reach a Foreseen Surface Temperature
Appendix C: Temperatures
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
