John Keane is Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney and at the Wissenschaftszentrum (WZB) Berlin. He is renowned globally for his creative thinking about democracy. Among his best-known books are the highly acclaimed full-scale history of democracy, The Life and Death of Democracy, and When Trees Fall, Monkeys Scatter, and Power and Humility: The Future of Monitory Democracy.
An original and incisive analysis of the rise of demagogue-style leaders across large parts of the world today. New-style despotism, the author shows, is distinctive to our age--less openly violent than that of the past, but more insidious, posing a threat not just in less-developed parts of the world but to the established democracies.--Anthony Giddens, Member of the House of Lords, United Kingdom, and Fellow of King's College, Cambridge In these dark times for democracy, the books of John Keane bring new light, refreshing perspectives, and what we need most: hope.--Enrique Krauz, author of Mexico: Biography of Power and Redeemers: Ideas and Power in Latin America