Book Review: Open Democracy

How a political scientist wants to save the world

I haven’t studied the works of political scientists in all these years. As an inventor of an alternative democracy, I should be. You might be asking “Why not read their works?”

Here is the reason for not doing so. When I watch political scientists on the TV news or read their short newspaper columns, they fail to understand the disease, so they have no effective remedy for improving democracy. At best, they can only explain things as they currently work. Even then, politics often takes surprising turns the political scientists have failed to predict.

A few months ago, a Medium contributor recommended a political science book to me. “Open Democracy” is written by Hélène Landemore, who teaches political science at Yale. It seemed this book was advocating serious political change, from a structurally perspective. “Maybe I need to know where this political scientist is at,” I thought. At $35, it was the priciest e-book I have ever bought. But I’m glad I bought and read it. It was useful to know where the leading edge of political science is at.

Throughout Ms. Landemore’s book, she is referencing many sources from her field. All these references slowed my reading down. And I will say that there were places where my comprehension was about 50%. This book is not an easy read.

Ms. Landemore is an advocate of “open democracy.” This means that the people take a bigger role in governance…