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AC Grayling: 'Democracy and its Crisis' at the British Library

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Time 20:00
Date 25/09/17
Price £8

One of the UK's foremost philosophers examines the history and future of representative democracy.

With the advent of authoritarian leaders and the simultaneous rise of populism in Europe and the USA, representative democracy appears to be caught between a rock and a hard place. Yet it is this space that it must occupy, argues Grayling, if a civilised society that looks after all its people is to flourish.

In each of five short chapters, Grayling explores a moment in history (including Periclean Athens, the English Civil War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution and the Weimar Republic) in which the challenges we face today were first encountered, how they were overcome – or not – and with what consequences. Grayling said: “My aim is to explain why the concept and the actuality of 'representative democracy' emerged, what its justification is, what has gone wrong with it, and how it should be fixed."

AC Grayling is the Master of the New College of the Humanities, London, and its Professor of Philosophy, and the author of over thirty books of philosophy, biography, history of ideas, and essays. He is a Vice President of the British Humanist Association, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Enjoy food and drink purchased from the Knowledge Centre Bar from 18.00 and after the event until the Bar closes at 22.00.

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